There’s a big difference between a whisper and a proclamation, but on twitter, many people still confuse the two. 

When you want to respond to just one person, compose a tweet that starts with the @ symbol and their user name. This is known as an “at reply”. It’s kind of like a whisper, others can hear it (see it) but only if they read your twitterstream (or if they follow both of you).

If you want to share and idea with many people, recommend someone to your followers or say thanks, don’t  start your tweet with an at reply - use the person’s @username in the middle of your tweet. This is called an “at mention”. It will post in all of your followers’ twitterstreams plus under the mention tab of the person you mentioned.

Here are some examples:

Reply to one person and your mutual followers: ”@CharlieCurve What is your favorite kind of Bacon?”

Reply to all of your followers: ”Watch @CharlieCurve’s new video about Bacon and at replies - it’s delicious”

Keep in mind that an at reply is NOT a private message. It will still post for the public to view in your twitterstream, it just won’t be broadcast out to all your followers (unless they follow both of you).

The “at reply” is still one of the most misused tactics on twitter. Learn the difference and you’ll soon be tweeting like the candy of meats.

Need some help making sense of social media marketing? Talk to the good folks at Curve Detroit: http://www.curvedetroit.com

Invite Charlie Wollborg to train your team on the finer points of using twitter for business: http://charliecurve.com