Your Tweets - Who Can Can See What

Today's post and the accompanying downloadable graphic are inspired by a question I tend to get often - I don't understand who can see my tweets.

I've been asked this question several times from a variety of people all with different levels of Twitter experience.

 During some of these conversations, I even uncovered that many aren't even aware that their tweets may not be getting seen by all of their followers.

 Do you send @ replies to people on Twitter? Sure, we all do (right!).

 An @ reply, not to be confused with a DM (Direct Message) is simply a tweet that’s being addressed to a specific user on Twitter. These tweets are normally seen by your followers and they also show up in the ‘Mentions’ tab of the recipient. But some, even long time users don't know that if you begin your tweet with an @reply then it is probably not being seen by all of your followers...

 Huh, How Come?

 Twitter believes that if you begin your tweet with an @ reply then it is 'only of interest' to you and your followers who also happen to be following the person you are addressing the message to.

 While that may indeed be the case, this limits potential interaction between your followers who might NOT be following that individual, but who might truly be interested in the conversation you are having with them.

Remember, this is not a private, direct message I'm talking about. This is a public tweet from you to another person on Twitter. Since Twitter is all about being social and creating meaningful connections, it only stands to reason that your conversations with others may be interesting to any number of the people following you.

So, when you start a tweet with an @ reply, the only people who will see this tweet are (1) the person you’re sending the tweet to and (2) only your followers who also happen to be following the person you mention in your @ reply.

Here's an example:

In the tweet, above, because I began my tweet with @dereksilva only the followers of @dereksilva who also follow me will see this tweet.

How You Can Make Sure Everyone Sees Your Tweets

Luckily if you'd like everyone to see this tweet or all of your tweets, simply put a character in front of the @ reply and Twitter now thinks you want the whole world to see this tweet. You notice that using a ‘.’ before the @ reply is about as unassuming as it gets (and only uses 1 extra character, but you can used use whatever or how many you like).

Here's an example:

Because I included a ‘.’ before @kadiejeanward, now my tweet will be seen by all of my followers, not just those who also follow @kadiejeanward.

Kapish.

Ok, so that's just one element I've noticed that many don't fully understand - in the accompanying graphic I try and break down possible tweets and who can see what and where.

Click Image To Download The Chart

So, what do you think? Still not sure what this is all about? Or glad we helped explained who can see what!? Either way, why don’t you let us know by leaving a comment below.