Stop Making This One Mistake On Twitter

by on February 13, 2012 at 10:44 am in Blog, twitter

By Brian Murray

Twitter is awesome. You are given 140 characters to share information about yourself, links to what you are reading, and even tweet to your hero hoping for a reply. Twitter has made the world smaller. Information flies around like no other medium in the course of human history. In its basic form, Twitter is pretty simple. However, there is one mistake I have seen by a variety of brands and even more by people. Twitter users do not understand the correct use of  the @ symbol.

Difference between a @Reply and a @Mention:

Some quick definitions and further explanation below

@Reply: A public tweet where the target person receives a notification about the tweet. It starts with the @ symbol. It does not show up in the timeline of all followers.

@Mention: A public tweet where the person who is mentioned receives a notification. It also shows up in the timeline of everyone who follows the tweeter. It does NOT start with @ but starts with anything else.

The Scenario:

You’ve written a great post, read an article about your favorite brand, or attended an event. In your excitement to tweet, you post: @LikeableMedia hosted a great event today! I learned so much from everyone! You should all follow them!!!

When you begin a Tweet with the @ symbol, the only person who will be notified about the tweet is the target. Furthermore, the only people who will see the tweet in his or her timeline are people who follow both you AND @LikeableMedia. It will be visible in your personal timeline if someone goes to your profile but it will quickly be lost in all of your other activity!

Why does this matter?

If you are hard at work developing content or trying to change the world in a single tweet, the people who see your tweet is just as important as the message! Would you send a single email to tell the world that you just figured out how we can achieve World Peace?

A tweet that you painstakingly craft would be lost if you start it with the @ symbol.

The Test: 

Take a look at these and think to yourself, who would see them?

Tweet from @BTMurr: @Ottogrl Hope you have an amazing birthday!

  • This tweet would only be seen by those following both @BTMurr and @Ottogrl.

Tweet from @Ottogrl: Thank you so much @BTMurr for the birthday wishes!

  • Anyone who follows @Ottogrl would see this tweet.

Tweet from @ESPN: @JLin7 does it again! Leads the @NYKnicks to another victory!

  • Only those who follow both @ESPN and @JLin7 can see this tweet.

Tweet from @Mashable: Check out this post by @DaveKerpen about @LikeableMedia http://on.mash.to/w1XLTm’

  • This tweet can be seen by anyone who follows @mashable.

Got it?

Two Fixes:

  1. If you must start with a Twitter handle at the beginning of a tweet, add something in front of it. I’ve seen many brands and users using a period at the beginning to the effect of: .@BTMurr wrote this post but I already knew about this, do you? LINK
    Personally, I don’t prefer this method as I think it looks strange. I would suggest using number 2.
  2. If you are thinking: .@FrankRamblings have you read the latest about @Instagram? http://on.mash.to/AjdjzY
    Do this: Just read this great post about @Instagram http://on.mash.to/AjdjzY – What are your thoughts @FrankRamblings?

What mistakes have you seen by people and brands on Twitter?

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  • http://justicewordlaw.com/ Justice Wordlaw IV

    Really good information. I honestly didn’t know about that at all.

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Glad to help Justice!

  • http://twitter.com/scorrow Shawn Corrow

    Great explanation – even I understand now.

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Awesome Shawn! Glad you were able to get something out of it.

  • http://twitter.com/byronhill Byron Hill

    Good refresher and suggestions Brian. Thanks!

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Byron! Long time no speak! Glad you enjoyed and are now “refreshed”!

  • http://loveablehomebody.blogspot.com/ Ashley

    I’m glad you posted this because this information isn’t widely shared or known and you’re going to save a lot of meant-to-be-public Tweets from being absent from Twitter feeds — a real waste! Also, your examples are helpful, but I think it might register better if you used screenshots of the Tweets. 

    Two mistakes that irk me: 1. Linking Facebook to Twitter and vice versa. Long Facebook posts are cut off in Tweets, so what’s the point? Posting a Tweet on Facebook means hashtags and other things are useless and unsightly. Facebook and Twitter are different platforms. They have different rules and work optimally in different ways. Also, why would people sign up to both your Twitter and your Facebook if it’s all the same?

    2. It bothers me when businesses only Tweet product descriptions, especially when these are automated Tweets. So I get a cut-off description in a Tweet at 3 am. And I get a bunch of these at once. Where’s the marketing strategy there? If everything is automated, where is the community?

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Ashley- Thanks for the feedback

      I agree with your two gripes. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://twitter.com/keithmutangara Keith Mutangara

    Thank @Brian lol. Lesson learnt!

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Keith- So glad you learned something! Hopefully your message reaches your target now!

  • http://twitter.com/usefultraining Jane Leonard

    Great post very clear, thanks 

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Jane- Glad to help! Enjoy your day!

  • http://twitter.com/trouble_doubled Trouble Doubled

    I complimented a product by name (but not @mention) one week ago exactly. Today the company found it and replied saying thank you, which is great. BUT a whole week? Do they not have people run a twitter check at least once a day? It’s supposed to be an instant social network is it not? I just think that companies always seem to be dawdling behind the individuals in the social media arena.

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Trouble- I certainly agree. The good news is they are at least dabbling in the arena. Worse is the companies that don’t ever respond.

      • http://michaelcarusi.com Michael Carusi

        I’ve found that certain brands tend to act like social media is a switch you can just flip on and off whenever you actually want to engage with your customers on your own terms.  The sooner they realize that’s not how social media operates the better off they’ll be.

        • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

          Truth!

  • Anonymous

    Good post, a lot of people seem to get mixed up by this but you make it very clear!

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Ciara- If you find it helpful please share it! Spread the word so others know this!

  • http://twitter.com/marciliroff Marci Liroff

    For some reason, many people are putting ” in front of their @ tweets. So their back and forth between each other (stuff that shouldn’t be in MY timeline) is now in my timeline because they are stupidly putting ” in the front of their tweet. Why are they doing this?!!

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Marci,

      They are doing this to make sure all of their followers see their tweets. If it is becoming a big problem, unfollow them. :-) In most cases they are trying to get more engagement.

      Brian

      • http://garyploski.com/ Gary Ploski

        I’ve found a number of apps are doing this automatically if you edit or quote a tweet. Hootsuite handles it well by placing a “RT ” in front of the tweet.

      • http://twitter.com/marciliroff Marci Liroff

         yes, but it’s largely a personal back and forth and don’t see why they’d want EVERYONE of their followers to see the “thank you for lunch 2day” sorta thing. I think they’re under the mistaken impression that it’s private. Yes, I “mute” them if I’m using Echofon.

  • Anonymous

    I aam overwhelmed right nowwhen this. so I’ll just have to pay attention and come back to r read. thanks for passing this information on.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bcdg24 Bethany Soler

    I just read this, and sorry if I’m a bit confused by the grammatical placement of your words, but it appears that you are saying it would be better to put the @Mention at the beginning of the tweet so that followers of both the one tweeting and the one being tweeted could view the tweet, rather than just the one being tweeted. This seems like an AND vs. OR issue.

    Are you trying to say that placing the @ Reference at the very beginning of the tweet will allow the tweet to only be viewed by those who follow the Tweetor AND the Tweetee (following both at the same time)? Whereas, placing the @ Reference further in to the tweet (with at least one character before it) will allow the tweet to be viewed by EITHER the followers of the Tweetor OR the followers of the Tweetee? Using the @Mention rather than the @Reply, thus allows for greater coverage?

    @twitter-19571671:disqus 
    Please advise. Thanks!

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Bethany,

      Reread the bottom portion again. If you start with @BTMurr the only person to see it is BTMurr unless the person looks at your timeline or follows both people. If you start a tweet with anything but  -@-  then all of your followers see it. I hope this clears that up.

      Brian

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  • http://garyploski.com/ Gary Ploski

    Absolutely wonderful write up, Brian. The only other way to make this clearer would be with an infographic of your examples. Something to consider?

    • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

      Gary-

      Thank you for the great suggestion! I am not much of a designer but I can certainly try to do this!

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Great question! I often find this to be a turn off. But that is me. Instead of thanking them, find a way to engage with them. Don’t thank somebody for “showing up”, instead show that you are interested in what they have to say.

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Shawn, I am not sure I follow you. Want to explain further?

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Great to hear that! Glad to help!

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    No problem Craig!

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Thanks for reading and the feedback!!!

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Agreed! Maybe my next issue to tackle is how to use hashtags properly. I think using search is underutilized and can lead to better opportunities anyway.

  • http://twitter.com/BTMurr Brian Murray

    Part of the reason I wrote this was because I’ve seen the problem by lots of casual users. Tell them to unprotect their accounts and educate themselves through using Twitter guides such as the one Mashable provides! Educate anyone you can, it is what I do!

  • http://twitter.com/ArtemAltman Artem Altman

    Good post! If there’s ever a Twitter 101 course, this should definitely be covered. But what do you think about people favoriting tweets instead of retweeting them?

  • Alanaw

    Just made that mistake, now i know for next time, very helpful!

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  • http://www.facebook.com/phil.winston.37 Phil Winston

    I actually just learned all of this last week. Great info.