Twitter is great, but sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you can tweet something you shouldn't have—perhaps an overly defensive reply to a follower or off-the-cuff comment you didn't put enough thought into.

Maybe you've realized your mistake straight away and want to remove the offending Tweet, or maybe you're considering running for public office and don't want journalists combing through your Twitter feed looking for juicy incidents to dredge up. Whatever the reason, here's how to delete a Tweet from your account.

How to Delete a Tweet on the Web

Go to your Twitter page and find the Tweet you want to remove. Click on the little, downward facing arrow on the right side.

Next, select Delete Tweet.

Finally, click Delete to confirm everything.

The Tweet will now be gone from your Twitter account.

How to Delete a Tweet on Mobile

Head to your Twitter profile and find the offending Tweet. Tap the downward facing arrow next to it.

From the menu that appears, tap Delete Tweet and then Delete to remove it from your account.

While deleting a Tweet will remove it from your profile, if someone has already taken a screenshot of it, or otherwise recorded it, there's not a lot you can do. As many a celebrity has found out, if you go on a drunken Twitter rant, deleting the Tweets afterwards won't stop your fall from grace. The safest thing to do is not tweet anything you wouldn't want being the front page headline of the New York Times.

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