It’s 2011. We’re more than a decade into the 21st Century. Still no flying cars, but Twitter has been around for five years now.
And it’s time we all banded together to make sure our friends and family members and followers and followees understand one of the most crucial and oft-misunderstood functions in social media.
The @Reply
I covered the @Reply in my How to Use Twitter post, but, well, I still see it misused rather often so I thought I should dedicate a post to it.
Do you understand the @Reply? Do you? Are you sure? Do you see my skepticism? DO YOU?!
Here’s what you need to know.
When you start a Tweet with @Username (whether that Username be @NathanBransford @LadyGaga or @YourMom), not everyone who follows you will see it. Only the people who follow both you and @Username will see it.
In other words, if you want to Tweet about this book that you’ve read and you want all of your followers to know about it, don’t start your tweet with @ReallyGreatAuthorPerson
Example #1:
I want to Tweet about this great post I read by The Rejectionist. Let’s say I write this Tweet:
@TheRejectionist wrote a great post! You should totally go read it! http://bit.ly/lxYL9w
WRONG WAY!
See how I started with @TheRejectionist? The only people who are going to see that Tweet already follow The Rejectionist and likely already read (and liked) the post.
Correct way:
Check out this great post by @TheRejectionist! You should totally go read it! http://bit.ly/lxYL9w
CORRECT!! Now everyone who follows me has been exposed to the wonders of The Rejectionist. Also acceptable:
.@TheRejectionist wrote a great post! Check it you must! http://bit.ly/lxYL9w
Notice the period? Anything but starting with @TheRejectionist will expose it to everyone who follows me.
Example #2:
Let’s say I want to have a MOST HILARIOUS DIALOGUE with The Rejectionist that may be of interest to those who know both us both but perhaps not others. In that case, we use the @Reply freely
(Note: Conversation made up/wildly improbable)
@TheRejectionist Aren’t @replies the most!
@NathanBransford Golly gee they sure are!
@TheRejectionist Isn’t it just wild that only the people who follow both of us will see this conversation?
@NathanBransford I’ll say!
CORRECT USAGE! We did not annoy/confuse the people who don’t follow both of us with our most hilarious banter.
A few other points of note about the @Reply:
- If someone visits your profile directly they WILL see your @Replies. They will also appear in Tweet boxes like the one on the right side of this page, and may appear to users who use some third party applications like TweetDeck depending on their settings. So don’t treat your @Replies as private. They are not. If you want to send a private message, use a Direct Message.
- @Replies are a great way of engaging with people on Twitter, so reach out and @Reply someone.
- One more time, this time with even more feeling, cowbell, and the kitchen sink: If you want to broadcast your Tweet widely, don’t start with an @Reply!
Understood? Good! Now please spread the @Reply gospel!
Twitter has not heeded my call to set up a Twitter DMV to make sure people have been through Twitter driving school before they hit the road, so please spread the word. Let’s make sure we have both flying cars and correct @Reply usage by 2012..
I'm still not a twitter type guy. Don't think I ever will be.
Phew…. I understood. Though I definitely didn't know this when I first encountered Twitter.
I've been trying to get into Twitter, but it seems like if you're not able to be on for a block of time to have conversations, it's hard to connect. I like FB better because it's more like a bulletin board — you can pop on and off as you have time. Twitter's more like a cocktail party. It's been hard for me to "get" it. I'll check out your other post.
Thanks for this, Nathan. Yeah, I'd gotten this info elsewhere, but little thanks to Twitter. In their help page on the topic the difference is only explained deep in the "Things to note" bullets at the bottom. Not nearly as helpful as your post & examples…
for shame – i did NOT know this!! thanks 🙂
I don't use Twitter. I'm still getting "liked" on Facebook. But a lot of people I follow use Twitter, but don't really use Twitter, if you know what I mean. LOL! I think I will repost this though, so that those who want to know can KNOW!
Thank you for saving us from the serious epidemic illiterate-ness of Twitterverse. Seriously. I'm serious; I never knew anything about that. This is sad. I repent and move on to a life of more enlightenment. And possibly flying cars. So…yeah. 😀
Also, people who use Tweetdeck can see @replies from people they follow to people they don't follow…just like on the Twitter website. I can see the @ replies everyone I follow makes, even to people I don't follow in my Tweetdeck (for Mac.) Other users with Tweetdeck can see my @ replies to people they don't follow, as well. This seems to be true for older versions of Tweetdeck.
I've had Twitter for a couple of months and JUST discovered the @mention tab. (Oh, that's why no one was talking to me.) THANK YOU so much for this post – I hadn't realized that the role of the @ changed depending on where in the 'status' it was. And seriously, Twitter needs a handbook. I'm just now beginning to enjoy it, but boy, have I found it confusing! Thanks for doing your part to make the cyber world a better place, Nathan! 🙂
I am ashamed to say I did not know this. But they say you learn something new every day. Thanks for starting off my Monday learning.
Oh The Twitter is so complex! *sighs with hand on forehead*
On a related note, when you talk about someone, it's considered courteous to use their Twitter name in the post if you know it.
Examples:
@NathanBransford What do you think of @LadyGaga's latest song?
or
@NathanBransford Did you see what Lady Gaga was wearing last night at the Grammy's? @LadyGaga
Great post. I did not know this Twitter info. I will retweet to spread the word.
Cheers,
Wow, I really needed this. I didn't know the @reply limited who could see the discussion. I thought it just made it show up in the mentions column for the person it was directed to.
GUILTY!!!! My apologies kind sir! Thank you for the education!
I actually knew most of this … even in my Twitter noobdom, but I did learn something today. I always thought the @mention had to have a space on either side, and not be the very beginning for it to work AND be public. I now know that was but my ignorance.
Thank you! I so needed this!
Just joined Twitter. Thanks for this info. Very helpful.
Now, can you tell me what this "Wii" is that everyone keeps talking about? (smiles)
Thanks for the post! I'm new to Twitter and I definitely didn't know this. Thanks for not leaving us in the dark!
This is a very clear and cogent post about something that is incredibly confusing. Does anyone else wonder WHY Twitter makes it so confusing? Is there some secret agenda here?
Regardless, this is also the kind of information that slips out of my head as fast as it enters it. I read this post twice, and if you asked me what it said, all I could really say is it was funny and we don't have flying cars yet.
But I don't have Twitter, and if I get it, you have that handy, dandy blog directory, and I could consult it. Which is very cool!
So, thank you for the clear and cogent explanation of something very confusing!
These are the little details I need! Thank you. I was pleased when I got the hashtag concept and use it endlessly during baseball games. (Still trying to teach my husband.) But truthfully, keeping up with all the different platforming components feels like learning a different foreign language each week.
This is something that annoys me, since I see the @reply misused so frequently. Granted, it wasn't something I had learned until I had been on Twitter for about a month, so a training course would be great for newbies.
The other thing that annoys me about the @reply? When people hold a loooooooong conversation back and forth without moving the conversation to DMs. Because if I follow both people, I am left with a conversation like the following:
"@PersonA Morning!"
"@PersonB Good morning to you! How was your coffee today?"
"@PersonA Good, how was yours?"
all the way until they're saying goodnight that evening. Gah!
Thanks Nathan! By the time I figure all of this stuff out, Twitter will probably be more outdated than the iPad1…
Nathan, when you were doing the whole agent thing, did you find it creepy if someone who quiered you suddenly followed you on twitter?
As I research agents, I am finding new, currenly un-followed ones to aubmit to, but would it look odd to start following them? Or do they have so many followers they wouldn't notice?
I didn't know that first one! Crazy! Thanks!
Though I use twitter three or four times daily, I don't see why I'd ever use @Replay. I usually just post and move on. I think most people do this, especially when using twitter for promotional reasons.
This is great info for those who use twitter to banter back and forth. But it could also intimidate a lot who would only use it for promotional purposes.
Th@ was gre@ thanks.
Anon-
Totally fine to follow agents on twitter. I'd try to follow them before you query because you can get a sense of their personality, but no one is going to think you're weird for following them around the time you query.
Nathan, it took me a long time to come around and become a twitter user because 140 characters sounded so limiting. Now that I sort of know how it works I like it–but please be patient with me…your post is very helpful, but certain things take time.
Thanks, Nathan! I always appreciate good twitter tips.
I'm still not completely clear, are you saying that if the @reply is the very first item in the tweet, it's limited to that person (or people who follow that person?), but if the @reply is anywhere else in the text, people who don't follow the person (but follow you) can still read it?
Nick-
Yep, you got it.
Nathan, you are ridiculous in your usefulness. Is there anything you don't know. NO! don't tell me. I won't believe you anyway.