At the end of 2011, Twitter quietly announced the capability to embed tweets on blogs and websites. Embedding the new Twitter tweets in Squarespace is a relatively simple process, and enhances the experience of your blog's readers. Today's post will enable you to embed these new interactive tweets on your Squarespace website (or any other site, really).

Installing New Twitter Tweets in Your Squarespace Blog or Website

I first used the new embedded Twitter tweets on a recent post about Squarespace and SOPA to highlight questions to Squarespace on the company's stance on the now-shelved anti-piracy bill:

@squarespace Does Squarespace support SOPA? Can we get a statement on where the company stands on this important issue?

Josh Braaten (@jlbraaten) December26, 2011

This new embed code featured reply, retweet and favorite functionality, as well as the ability to follow the author of the tweet, all from within the page on which the tweet is embedded. But when I went to follow the instructions on how to embed tweets, I found it didn't work as advertised, so I had to do it by hand. To embed tweets on your own site, start with this embed code.

Sample Code for an Embedded Tweet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@squarespace Does Squarespace support SOPA? Can we get a statement on where the company stands on this important issue?</p>Josh Braaten (@jlbraaten) <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/JLBraaten/status/151341195191259136">December26, 2011</a></blockquote>

You'll notice there are a several parts to this embed code. You'll need to find the URL of your tweet by viewing it directly on Twitter.com, and then copy/paste parts of the tweet according to the following screenshot. 

The Anatomy of an embedded Tweet on Squarespace:

It's a pretty simple process. Carefully contruct your embed code by copying/pasting information from the tweet you want to embed. Double check for accuracy and then copy the entire chunk of HTML embed code.

From there it's just a matter of cracking open your Squarespace web page or blog post, and using the Insert Code Block feature from the WYSIWYG editing interface.

The new Twitter tweets are an easy way to add an interactive element to your Squarespace blog or website. These types of embedded tweets allow your website visitors to complete their Twitter-related tasks without having to leave your site.  Consider using one the next time you want to highlight tweets on Squarespace!