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! https://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! https://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! https://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..
*PHEW*
The Ego-centric part of me was afraid this was posted because I was an idiot and did it wrong!
Glad I posted my tweet correctly when I mentioned your Week in Books post!
It's good to see this. So, I've been doing it right and this way from the start. It would always irritate me when I saw @tweets the wrong way.
Thank you for explaining. I am not a Twitter, prefer FB.
I think it's greet to @reply people with large followings. They might not always be able to reply, but then again if you write a funny reply they might retweet you, or they might reply back.
Speaking personally, I wish I could respond to everyone but I always appreciate people reaching out to me.
Thank you, Nathan (and CafeFightingBlogger). That makes me feel better. One day I hope to be retweeted by Anderson Cooper. I have big dreams.
Nathan, now, I need to know how important tweeting is for my writing business (and I've finally begun working with larger markets/money, still much rejection, but the thousands of hours with b.i.c., benefits me).
Alan Rinzler recently wrote about the needed twittering.
Here's the but – between working, writing, reading and sleeping and eating when I remember, how do I make time to tweet? Seriously? So, is tweeting for a writer, essential?
It seems like too much communication, too quickly, no?
Always informative , starting with "It's 2011" . Which got me thinking – Is it ? ( long pause ) oh yeah , it is ! Thanks again , Nathan .
It has always amazed me how people don't read site FAQs. Really, it's all in there. But then again, I'm the only one in my family to read the user manual for new home appliances and electronics. I should probably realise there are a lot of people out there who are not like me…
"To put it bluntly, it's self-absorbed and self-centered to use Twitter only to talk about yourself and never pay attention to what other people say. If you don't care what I have to say, why should I care what you have to say?"
That was my basic point. It's twitter, not Dr. Phil.
anon @8:34
Crazy Cat Lady, what is a site FAQ?
Thanks for clearing that up, I think I almost @ get it. I'm still waiting for the flying car as well … have been waiting since the 70s.
Thanks so much for that Nathan! I'm veeeeery slowly getting comfortable with Twitter but still don't understand so much. You totally clarified one aspect for me today. Even though I don't know anyone well enough to have a semi-private conversation with. Oh well. Thanks again for being so cyber savvy.
I feel like a Luddite.
I can't use any of these social platforms in an attempt to publicize my inconsequential life.
googledisappointsme.blogspot.com
I'm so disappointed by the lack of flying cars. If we're ever going to match up to 2015 in Back To The Future II … I mean, we're already totally behind schedule if you're following Do androids dream of electric sheep? – we should have had robots by 1992…
On a serious note, thanks! I didn't know that, although I'm trying to become more twitter-savvy. This is VERY helpful 🙂
@Sheila Cull: While I think everyone should only do the social networking they have time for and are comfortable with (I personally hate Facebook), probably about 75% of the books I buy these days come initially from a Twitter mention.
You are so helpful! thanks. I wasn't using @ incorrectly because I wasn't using it at all. Now I understand.
Thank you! For some reason this was never explained when I joined Twitter. Or maybe I was too lazy to read it.
LOL! Awesome post. Why doesn't Twitter do a better job of educating people on how to use it? Everything I know about Twitter, I either learned from you, or figured out myself through experimentation.
Now I'm wondering how many people use Twitter, exactly… I know it's a lot, but HOW MANY?
@Sheila Cull: Just about every website has a "Help" section or an "FAQ" to guide new (and old) users. It is usually situated in the site header or footer menu, next to things like "Terms of Service" and "About us".
When I sign up for a new web site, I always read the terms of service (at least the sections about account termination, privacy and copyright) and I always take a glance at the Help/FAQ. If I come across something that I don't understand while using the website, I consult the Help/FAQ again. Apparently this is an unusual practice – something which surprises me! =)
For Twitter, the Help/FAQ link is situated in the footer of the right hand side bar (new layout) or the top menu to the right (old layout) and points to https://support.twitter.com/
Not gonna lie, I had no idea that was how it worked! Thanks for explaining it.
Looks like we're both trying to educate tweeps about @reply 🙂 GMTA!
Did you know there is a follow limit? Do you know the formula? Twitter veterans and newbies will both find some other little-known Twitter goodies here:
https://rebeccatlittle.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-ive-learned-about-twitter.html
Thanks Nathan! Just reposted this to FB, since I know I am not the only one confused by Twitter. One small step for man…one giant step for mankind?
You should be writing instruction manuals for stuff! I finally understand how replying works, and more than just in the sense of the @reply you started out by explaining. (Relatively new to Twitter.) Thanks!
I did not know this. Thanks, Nathan. I shall @Reply properly from now on.
As for using Twitter only for promotion, that usually backfires as someone else mentioned. Twitter is a marketing tool, but only if you use it properly. Tweeting links or promos about your "product" and nothing else annoys people. Showing a bit of yourself now and then is more appealing to potential readers. No, they don't care what you had for dinner or how long you sat on the toilet this morning, but sharing an article here and there, RT'g something interesting posted by another person–basically something that is NOT about you or your book, shows you're a real person and not trying to sell something they probably don't want.
It's called social networking. That means you have to be a tiny bit social now and then. I know, it hurts.
Hi why dont my replies show on the other persons timeline, even though others replies show and they are not followed by the sender?
Oops i meant not followed by the recipient?
can i replay someone who doesnt follow me?
OMG THIS IS SO USEFUL this solves everything I want to know 🙂 thanksss
Wow, all this time on twitter. Now I know Thanks @Nathan
now i know why i haven't had much response to some things – no one could see anything. oy vey! still very new to twitter, so thank you for the very helpful information.
Love this post and agree it would be a great idea to have a Twitter DMV. I've been trying to figure out what all the Twitter tags are but haven't been able to find them in one place, so this is great. Thanks!
This is dumb, you left a piece of info that is vital:
"if you post an @reply your account will be suspended" Why? You need to address the suspension of a twitter account because of an @reply!
Google brought me here to this post….. and it has nothing of use at all about why an account get's suspended because of an @reply
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.
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Got it! Thanks for clearing that up. Let me know if they ever start that Twitter DVM 🙂