There are widgets that display Twitter followers count, but those are limited and ugly. You can use this function to customize the way your twitter followers count look on your blog. Simply paste the code below:
function rarst_twitter_user( $username, $field, $display = false )
$interval = 3600;
$cache = get_option(‘rarst_twitter_user’);
$url = ‘http://api.twitter.com/1/users/show.json?screen_name=’.urlencode($username);
if ( false == $cache )
$cache = array();
// if first time request add placeholder and force update
if ( !isset( $cache[$username][$field] ) )
$cache[$username][$field] = NULL;
$cache[$username]['lastcheck'] = 0;
// if outdated
if( $cache[$username]['lastcheck'] < (time()-$interval) )
// holds decoded JSON data in memory
static $memorycache;
if ( isset($memorycache[$username]) )
$data = $memorycache[$username];
else
$result = wp_remote_retrieve_body(wp_remote_request($url));
$data = json_decode( $result );
if ( is_object($data) )
$memorycache[$username] = $data;
if ( is_object($data) )
// update all fields, known to be requested
foreach ($cache[$username] as $key => $value)
if( isset($data->$key) )
$cache[$username][$key] = $data->$key;
$cache[$username]['lastcheck'] = time();
else
$cache[$username]['lastcheck'] = time()+60;
update_option( ‘rarst_twitter_user’, $cache );
if ( false != $display )
echo $cache[$username][$field];
return $cache[$username][$field];
Then place the following code where you want to display the count in your theme file:
echo rarst_twitter_user(‘wpbeginner’, ‘name’).’ has ‘.
rarst_twitter_user(‘wpbeginner’, ‘followers_count’).’ followers after ‘.
rarst_twitter_user(‘wpbeginner’, ‘statuses_count’).’ updates.’;
Display Twitter Followers Count and More
