Ask Lisa: What is an @ message? Is it different than a normal Twitter message?

Q: What is an @ message? Is it different than a normal Twitter message?

A: There are billions of messages that are sent on Twitter every day. An @message is how you tag someone on twitter so they can actually see the message you sent. It is a public message that everyone on Twitter can see. Without using the @message they would not know you were talking to them.  Think of it as sending an email to someone without an email address! You can view your own @messages on the home Page of Twitter where it says @mentions. Whenever you hit reply to a Tweet it automatically populates the other person’s @name at the beginning of your tweet.  Go to www.Twitter.com/LisaLarter and click reply to one of my Tweets to test how it works.

If you want to send a private message, you have to send a Direct Message (DM) via the messages link at the top of your Twitter Page.  When you reply to someone on Twitter, it automatically sends them an @message to show you replied to them. D space lisalarter it will be a direct message. It looks like this: D lisalarter Your message here

You can find more in-depth information about this here: http://bit.ly/N8XcXZ

Have a Question of Your Own?

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