How to Talk to Other Twitter Users and Why You Would Want to - By: J Work

Twitter gives you a couple of options for talking to other users. You can direct message someone, which places a message in his account that only he can see, or you can reply to someone, which creates a message that can be seen publicly.

To send a message directly to another user that can be viewed publicly, place the "@" symbol in front of his or her name when posting. The message will then show up in the recipient's profile page showing updates that reference his name. These messages will also show up in the Twitter accounts for users that follow both users. The "Direct message" label will change to "Reply to" followed by the recipient name when creating a reply.

Public replies such as those created using the @ symbol are not the same as direct messages. To send a direct message from your Twitter message window, type a lower case d followed by a space and the user's name. These messages will show up in the recipient's Direct Messages page, but not in anyone else's Twitter account. The label above the update box that says "What are you doing?" will change to say "Direct message." When you see this, you will know that you have used the correct syntax.

Should you use these techniques to communicate with other Twitter users? Yes! Twitter can be used in a few different ways, but if you want to use it as a brand building / lead generation tool, you should engage in conversation with other users. Making reference to other users in your public tweets also encourages others to do the same for you, which helps spread your name and your brand, possibly opening up opportunities online.

The good thing is that Twitter messaging can be fun. Twitter is fast and dynamic. Serious Twitter users will respond quickly to messages sent their way. Just like everything else in life, with Twitter, the more you give, the more you get.

Twitter gives you a couple of options for talking to other users. The two methods are to send a reply, which is a public entity that can be viewed by others, or to send a direct message, which is only see by the intended recipient. This article explains why you would want to talk to other Twitter users and how the two ways of talking to them work.

Tweet Later is the ultimate platform for managing your Twitter accounts. It automates three important parts of the Twitter process: making posts, following those who follow you, and sending direct messages to new followers. To try it out for free (no credit card needed!), visit http://www.trytweetlater.com.To learn more Twitter marketing strategies, visit twitterforbusiness.blogspot.com.