Follow Basic Guidelines for Conversing on Twitter

1.   We’re all adults here. I’m not going to tell you who to be friends with on Twitter, and I’m certainly not going to tell you what to tweet. There are a few conventions and standards that make Twitter interesting, so read on and you’ll be twittering like a pro in no time.

• Don’t just broadcast your ideas. When you’re on Twitter, you’ll see that some people just continually broadcast their thoughts over the stream. Broadcast media is so yesterday! In 21st-century new media, it’s all about conversation and engaging others. Your interaction is with real people; talk to them!
• Do tweet out ideas and comments. Since it’s all about conversation, give people something to reply to you about. Did you ruin a batch of cookies in the oven? If you’re following other people who might be baking cookies, they’ll commiserate with you. You have to buy new tires, and you’re going through sticker shock? Certainly, in this economy, someone out there can relate.
• Reply to others. When someone makes a comment that you’re interested in, make a comment back!

2.   Starting any posting with the at-sign (@), followed by the name of the person you’re sending it to, is like putting an address on the tweet: @Krystyl means this tweet is addressed to @Krystyl, as if we were in a conversation. Here’s how to reply:

1.   When you mouse over the right side of a tweet on your Twitter page, the word Reply comes up out of nowhere. When you click this Reply link (or swoosh), the tweeter’s ID appears in the What’s Happening text box with an at-sign (@) in front of it; for example, @Greetums. These are called @ (at) replies; they’re visible to the person you addressed them to, and to the people who follow both of you.

2.   If you want all the people who follow you to see an @ reply, embed it within your tweet.

3.   When you send a tweet like this, the recipient will definitely recognize it as conversation and will most likely respond to you.

 4.   To see all your @ replies, click the link on the right side of your Twitter home page that has the @ and your ID next to it.