diff --git a/mitterlib/network/twitter.py b/mitterlib/network/twitter.py
index d3bbdbb..0979f14 100644
--- a/mitterlib/network/twitter.py
+++ b/mitterlib/network/twitter.py
@@ -172,10 +172,10 @@ class TwitterNetworkData(NetworkData):
         self.message = _unhtml(data['text'])
 
         # regular expression for users
-        self.user_regexp = r'@[a-zA-Z0-9_]'
+        self.user_regexp = r'@\w+'
 
         # regular expression for hashtags
-        self.tag_regexp = r'#[a-zA-Z0-9_]'
+        self.tag_regexp = r'#\w+'
 
         return