How to get Apple's brand new Twitter account to tweet at you
Apple has a Twitter account now. It seemingly hasn't sent any tweets yet, but you might see some in your timeline.
Let me explain.
Some users, including me, are seeing a promoted tweet advertising next week's iPhone 7 launch. And if you retweet it, @Apple will tweet at you.
It will look like this:
However, it doesn't show up on Apple's timeline or on its Twitter page. That's because promoted tweets can be hidden from a user's timeline.
If you retweet it, you'll get a thank you from Apple. Like so:
According to Tweetdeck, Apple is sending the "thank you" tweets using QWVR, which links to this website. The promoted tweet was sent through Twitter's ad product. (Apple uses Sprinklr to manage many of its other accounts, including @AppleSupport.)
It's also possible that Apple is getting special treatment from Twitter. It looks like it has paid Twitter for a custom emoji for the #AppleEvent hashtag, which is not inexpensive.
Plus, Twitter COO Adam Bain tweeted at Apple welcoming it to Twitter only to delete it:
Previously, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman floated the idea that Apple might livetweet Wednesday's Apple event, which Business Insider will be covering live.
We've asked Apple and Twitter what's going on and will update when we hear back.