UPDATED INSTRUCTIONS: Now works with #NewTwitter.
My friend Sam asked me if there was a way to remove Twitter’s new “Who to Follow” box found on the home page sidebar of the web interface. She remembered that I had once written about removing the Facebook “Reconnect” Box, another addition that not everyone cared to see each time they logged in, and figured I could show her how to do the same thing in this instance. It’s really easy. Let me walk you through it.
What You’ll Need
- Firefox + Adblock Plus; or
- Chrome + Adblock; or
- Safari + either Adblock or Follow Freely; or
- Internet Explorer + IE7Pro
Normally an ad blocking extension is used strictly to block advertisements, but it can actually be used to filter out all sorts of page elements.
Firefox
Step 1 – Add Filter
In Firefox, click the Tools pull down menu and select Add-ons. Find Adblock Plus and click Preferences. You should see a menu similar to the one in the image above. Click on Add filter… to enter in the custom block filter we’re going to use.
Step 2 – Insert Custom Filter
A text box should appear, prompting you to add in your new filter. Here you’re going to want to enter the following text:
twitter.com#*(user-rec-inner)
Click OK. You’re done! If you have Twitter open in your browser you may need to refresh the page before you see the changes.
Chrome/Chromium
Step 1 – Add Filter
In Chrome/Chromium, click the Tools icon and select Extensions. Find AdBlock and click Options. You should see a menu similar to the one in the image above. Click on the Blacklist tab, then click Hide a section of a webpage.
Step 2 – Insert Custom Filter
Two text boxes should appear, prompting you to add a domain and a filter. In the blank labeled Domain of page to apply on enter:
twitter.com
In the blank labeled CSS to match enter:
div[id="user-rec-inner"]
Click Block it! You’re done! If you have Twitter open in your browser you may need to refresh the page before you see the changes.
Safari
The Safari version of Adblock shares the same codebase as Adblock for Chrome. Everything looks and acts identical, so the Chrome instructions and screen shots should guide you perfectly. The only difference: to access the Adblock options panel, click on the Adblock menu bar icon.
The extension Follow Freely is designed specifically to block the Who to Follow section. There is no setup after installation.
Internet Explorer
Step 1 – Confirm Ad Blocker is Enabled
In Internet Explorer, click the Tools pull down menu and select IE7Pro Preferences. Under modules, makes sure Ad Blocker is checked. If it is, continue on without restarting Internet Explorer. If it’s not, check it, click OK, restart Internet Explorer, and reopen IE7Pro Preferences.
Step 2 – Insert Custom Filter
The list of services to the far left includes a menu called Ad Blocker. Select it. In the Filter type drop down list selected Div Filter. In the line above labeled Rule enter:
user-rec-inner
Click Add, then click OK. You’re done! If you have Twitter open in your browser you may need to refresh the page before you see the changes.
Note: Don’t let the name of the extension fool you. IE7Pro is compatible with Internet Explorer 8.
Here’s What You Just Did
The “user-rec-inner” part of what you entered is the ID name for the div that holds the code for the “Who to Follow” section. If you don’t speak geek, think of it like a section title in a book. Whenever your browser sees that particular ID on the domain you specified (in this case, twitter.com) it will block all the content found there.
Be aware of two things. Twitter could change the name of the ID whenever it wants, which would require you to change your filter to match. Also, Twitter could start including something you might actually want to see within the area of the page you’re blocking.
If you found this helpful, share it with someone else!
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Thank you so very much! It worked perfectly, and was easy to do. This is such a relief.
That is an good idea, if you dont have adblock, you could use this userscript: .
Thanks so much! How do you recommend finding the div name, in future?
You ask an excellent question, something I should have covered in the post. I use another Firefox extension called Firebug. I use the Inspect Element feature, hover over the part of the page I want to block and the extension will reveal the code used to create that feature. Most of the time websites will name their div elements either with an ID or class for easy styling. Be sure you find the top-most div, as the site might be using nested divs. More broadly put, make sure you're blocking the part of the page you think you're blocking.
Thanks, Andrew. I'm going to try and block the stupid "Twitter vocabulary" box using the same trick.
Brilliant! I am so irritated with these sites telling me who I should reconnect with and what not. It is like I cannot think for myself and decide who to follow and befriend. Thank you for this!
There's a site where they have how to do this on pretty much every browser covered. http://blog.kitchenmage.com/2010/08/removing-twit…
Excellent find. Thanks for commenting.
I was just wondering that same thing the other day… Thanks for the instructions!
Thanks for the info! I hate the who to follow!
thanks for the tip!
still doesn't work on new twitter
Twitter must have changed it! Okay, I fixed my instructions again. Thanks for catching that change.