How To Back Up Your Twitter Stream Part Duex

In the previous article I covered how to back your twitter stream using the built-in RSS feed application of Mac OS X Mail app. However, this is not the only application to have a built-in feed reader and I would like to update the previous with the steps necessary to bring your RSS feed to life in Mozilla Thunderbird.

In order to complete the connection to your twitter stream we will once again need to retrieve your Twitter RSS feed URL. The easiest thing to do is copy the following example link then replace the XXXXX with your twitter id.

After you have successfully crafted your Twitter RSS URL, you will need to open up Thunderbird and add the feed. Select ‘Properties’ from teh ‘Edit’ menu to open the account setup dialog. If you do not have any feeds defined you will have to add them by selecting the ‘Add Other Account’ option in the lower left corner of the window.

If you do have an RSS or Atom feed then select Blogs & News Feeds from the account view tree. This will display various options as well as offer a ‘Manage Subscriptions…’ button. Select that button to open the sub-dialog page for managing and adding new subscriptions.

http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=xxxxx

In the subscription management select ‘Add’ in the lower left to add the new feed.

Enter your Twitter RSS feed URL and I recommend changing the ‘Store Article in” field to ‘Blogs & News Feeds’ rather than leaving whatever feed was highlighted when you selected the add button. At this point you can click the OK button and exit your way out of the settings section. Your Twitter stream is now programmed to be backed up by Thunderbird.

Please keep in mind that backing up your stream via RSS is not a guaranteed solution. If you loose connectivity or close the program the back will miss those tweets that pass in the night. In other words it is only viable while the feed reader is active.

Related articles

• How To Back Up Your Twitter Stream (jafdip.com)
• How to Restore the RSS Feed Icon In Firefox [Quick Tips] (maketecheasier.com)