Starting With @ – A Common Twitter Misunderstanding

If you use Twitter, there is a well-kept secret about starting your tweets with @.  If the first character in your tweet is a Twitter address (e.g. @joeblow), only the people that follow both you and @joeblow will be able to see the tweet.

Here is how it works:

Tweet:  I am good friends with @joeblow
Who Sees It:  Anyone that follows me

Tweet: @joeblow and I are good friends
Who Sees It:  Only people that follow BOTH @joeblow and me.  This is handy if you are only wanting a known group to see it, but not real handy if you are expecting everyone to be able to see it.

Tweet: .@joeblow and I are good friends
Who Sees It:  Everyone because I started the message with a period.  The period can be any character other than the @ or D (D is syntax for direct message). I usually use the period because it’s unobtrusive.

This particular bit of fun bit a good friend of mine today, so I thought I would share it in case others also might have made this mistake.

Hope this helps someone!