The difference between message types at Twitter is not immediately obvious. I am certain I am not the first new Twitter user to think only those who follow you can receive messages from you – especially when they receive a direct message they can’t answer because the sender is not following you.
Debbie had the same confusion: “It’s true that lots of people are confused about @replies. It hasn’t always been clear to me who can see what and why sometimes people don’t seem to see my replies to them if they aren’t following me. I personally really like seeing all of them, kind of like eavesdropping and finding interesting conversationalists, i.e. good people to follow, that are friends of my friends. ”
I tracked down the answer in the Twitter Blog and here it is: you CAN send a message to someone who is NOT following you by using an @ sign in front of their user name. There is a setting that determines which @ messages anyone can normally see. The options are no @ messages, only their followers @ messages, and all @ messages.
Here is the key though:
@Replies To You – If someone @replies you—note, this means they start a tweet with @yourusername—you will see that in your main timeline if you follow the person. But you’ll see it in your replies tab, whether you follow them or not (unless you’ve blocked them)”
The Twitter Settings Help file confirms that:
“…you’ll still see replies in your replies tab if you have your settings set to “no @replies.” These settings allow you to control the replies that appear in your timeline that are posted by others, to someone other than you.”
So, anyone can send you a message at Twitter and that message will at least appear in your Replies Tab. If there is a particular Twitter user you would really like to “meet” now you have a way to contact them. You may want to give some thought to what you’ll say so you make a good impression.
Remember that while they CAN see your message they may not ever look at the Replies Tab – or they may be too busy or not interested in answering. Try not to take it personally.
HOW TO GROW YOUR TWITTER FOLLOWERS:
- Jim’s Marketing Blog: How I Attracted 8000 Twitter Users in 14 Weeks
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips for twitter. Very helpful and it is true that Twitter is not obvious as to how it works at first.
Didn’t realize you could do this, thanks.
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Office Mate – Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Twitter has some growing to do and some usability issues to improve on, but it is still very useful.
Did you see my latest post Twitter and FriendFeed Quick Start? Lots of great links and lists of people to follow.
Hi,
Good post here for the Twitter Newbies.
Nice Blog Too!
JD – Admin
http://twitfast.com
Short Fast Twitter Redirect Links
Helpful tips. Thanks
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Twitter: @GrowMap
@TwitFast Thank you. I hope you’ll be back often. We just added the Twitter comment field so not only do your comments provide dofollow links – you can also grow your Twitter account at the same time.
@JD We usually delete comments that are just links; however, since yours IS related to THIS post we will leave it. Some may be interested in your service.
@Ottawa Golf Blog – Thanks for stopping by. Have you read our posts about our new golf-related Joint Venture blog? Those might be valuable posts to add your comments. I used one of them as the CommentLuv featured post for this comment.
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Bugging others who really don’t want to be bugged; this gonna irritate me a lot.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Rachael,
If they have never contacted you before how would they know you don’t want to be “bugged” and how do you know you wouldn’t want to meet someone new?
I wrote this post primarily because Twitter’s usability is seriously lacking. It is extremely confusing when someone DMs you asking you to reply but they aren’t following you so you can’t DM them back. THAT is why those new to Twitter need this information.
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Twitter: @onesourcetalent
The problem with twitter is the ease of use. And with that ease you get tons of spammers!
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Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome to GrowMap One Source,
Yes, the spammers are an issue. Twitter could probably control them better if that were a priority. Lately the obscene user names and nude photos have become a more serious problem than the spammers.
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Twitter: @Anthony Toma
The auto DM are over whelming sometimes.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Anthony,
Yes they are. I saw an option in a third party app to block auto-DMs and when I come across it again I think I’ll do that. It is nearly impossible to tell real DMs from auto-DMs which means I am missing real messages when I am compelled to ignore the automated messages. Blocking them would make the most sense.
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this is a great way to select users that you want to have specific tweets.
So essentially it has an inbuilt spamming system, all they need to do is scrape follower lists and Bam yet more junk to deal with!
thanks for the heads up; was planning to get back in to the twitter game
.-= Don@ automated websites´s last blog ..Free Blog Commenter =-.
I personally like using twitter but never have time to read the @ comments or private comments as I receive too many of them. I use it more to keep people updated who read my stuff.
Twitter is a great way to promote a website or to make some money. But I think there are another one important thing, which is you can build trust. When you have a large number of followers and you’re posting good articles with valuable information, tips&tricks or latest news from your niche/domain, they will read them and will appreciate it.
well i think its really nice way to invite friends and also the promotion of website is also done by this method.
i think many people are looking for this functionality since its really hard to find people who are not following you. this post solves my problem of searching friends. keep it up