How to Use the Twitter/X Message Sender

Step 1: Provide profile URLs

You can provide your lead data in two ways:

1. My Lists:
   Choose a saved LinkedIn Leads list you’ve already created in PhantomBuster.
2. A URL:
   • Paste a single X/Twitter profile URL.
   • Paste the URL of a Google Sheet with your X/Twitter profile URLs (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).
   • Or upload a CSV file with your X/Twitter profile URLs (make sure it’s publicly accessible, and note that CSV upload is only available on paid plans).

→ If you’re using a spreadsheet, the Phantom defaults to the first column (A). To use a different column, enter the column’s header name in the field “Name of column containing X/Twitter profile URLs.”

Step 2: Connect your X/Twitter account

To let the Phantom act on your behalf:

1. Install the PhantomBuster browser extension and connect your X/Twitter session in one click.
2. If you’re not using Chrome or Firefox, you can retrieve your session cookie manually (see our cookie guide).

Step 3: Write and personalize your message

Fine-tune how many profiles are processed per run:

1. Number of lines to process per launch, 10 max (optional):
   • Default = 10, and maximum per run.
   • If left empty, the Phantom processes 10.
   • This cap helps prevent spam detection by X/Twitter.
2. Enter your message:
   • Write your message in the “Message” field.
   • Click on the tags listed below the message box to insert them automatically.
   • Click the + icon to see all available tags.
   • Custom placeholders: If you’ve added your own columns in your input file, you can still type those manually (e.g. #customIntro#).

Message customization rules and limits:

When writing your messages, keep in mind:

• Placeholder tags:
  • All available tags appear at the bottom of the message box.
  • These include both standard tags scraped from profiles (e.g. #firstName#, #company#) and any custom tags you’ve added in your input file.
  • Click on a tag to insert it, or use the + icon to see the full list.
• Custom placeholders:
  • If your input file contains custom columns (e.g. customIntro, such as a personalized note or detail you want to include), they’ll be automatically detected and appear below the message box or under the + icon.
  • Placeholders that don’t have a value (empty cell, missing profile detail) will appear blank in your message.
  • Do not use #message# as a placeholder tag. This conflicts with the Phantom’s own message output column and may cause your text to be replaced or duplicated.
  • Likewise, avoid naming a spreadsheet column message unless absolutely necessary.
• Formatting restrictions:
  • Emojis are not supported.
  • Hyperlinks are not supported: any pasted link will appear as plain text.

Advanced settings (dropdown in setup)

• Prevents sending preview bubbles when the message contains a URL (Optional):
  • Enable if your message contains a URL and you don’t want X/Twitter to attach a preview card; the link will be sent without a preview bubble.

Result file settings (dropdown in setup)

1. Name your results file (optional)

   • You can customize the file name.

     If you rename the file between launches, the Phantom will create a new results file and start processing inputs from scratch.

2. Fields to keep (optional)
   • Export only the fields you care about by listing them (comma-separated).
     Example: profileUrl, job, location.
   • This generates a second CSV file with just those fields.
   • Learn more in our guide: Customize how your Phantom results files are saved.

Step 4: Select launch frequency

Choose how often the Phantom should run:

1. Launch manually: Start the Phantom yourself whenever you need.
2. Launch once at a specific time: schedule a one-time run at a set date and time.
3. Launch repeatedly: schedule regular runs (e.g. once per day, several times during working hours).
4. Launch after another Phantom: chain automations together so this Phantom starts right after another finishes.
5. Advanced scheduling: customize the exact minutes, hours, days, or months when the Phantom should run.

→ For a complete walkthrough of scheduling options, see our guide to scheduling Phantoms automatically.

Step 5 (Optional): Advanced settings

Advanced settings are available if you want to fine-tune how your Phantom runs, but by default they’re already optimized for most use cases.

We recommend leaving them as they are unless a guide specifically instructs you to change something.

→ For a detailed overview of all advanced options (like execution limits, retries, email notifications, proxies, webhooks, and file management), see our Advanced settings guide.

Launch and results

When you’re ready:

1. Click Launch to start your Phantom.
2. Once it finishes, open the Results tab in the Phantom console to see DM send logs (target handle/URL, message snippet, send status, timestamp, error if any).
3. Download your results as a CSV or JSON file.

→ To learn how to export your data to Google Sheets, integrate with other tools, or reuse it in more automations, check our Access and Export your Phantom Results guide.

Export and input limits on the Free plan
If you’re on the Free plan or Free trial, some features are limited:
- CSV exports include only the first 10 rows of results.
- CSV download links (for dynamic viewing in Google Sheets or integrations) are not available.
- JSON exports are not available.
- CSV upload as an input method is not supported.
To unlock all features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

What you give (Input) and What you get (Output)

This section gives you a detailed breakdown of everything you need to provide to run this Phantom, and everything you’ll receive once it completes.

What you give (Input)

What you get (Output)

Tips and troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• Expecting unlimited DMs → X/Twitter limits the number of DMs you can send, especially to users who don’t follow you. Keep usage moderate.
• Sending the same message to multiple accounts → X/Twitter will flag this behavior as spam (faster if you include a link) and may block your account from sending DMs for 30 minutes. Using different messages helps avoid this.
• We cannot verify in advance whether a profile has X/Twitter DMs open. If DMs are closed, the message cannot be delivered.
• Using a private spreadsheet (make sure it’s set to “Anyone with the link”).

If you run into issues

• Check how to troubleshoot your phantom using Logs.
• Browse the Fix Issues & Troubleshoot Errors section for solutions to common problems.
• Review our Automation Rate Limits by Platform guide.
• Check our Best Practices for Social Media Automation guide.

Suggested automations

• Twitter Follower Collector → Collect fresh lists of followers from a target profile, then use this Phantom to automatically send them a DM.
• Twitter Profile Scraper → Enrich the profiles you’re messaging with bios, locations, or websites, then personalize your outreach messages with that data.
• AI Advanced Enricher → Analyze profile bios and generate tailored message ideas before sending them out through the Twitter Message Sender.