What are @replies and mentions?

What is an @reply?

An @reply is any update posted by clicking the "Reply" button on another Tweet.

People say lots of things on Twitter, and sometimes you want to say something back. Your reply will always begin with @username (insert username of the person you are replying to). Any Tweet that is a reply to you will show up in your Mentions tab on the Connect page.

To post an @reply on Twitter:

• Find the Tweet you want to reply to on Twitter
• Hover your mouse over their message and click on 'Reply' (highlighted below)
• Complete your Tweet in the box that pops up (you'll see that the username of the account you are replying to is already added at the beginning of the Tweet) and click Tweet to send it

What is a mention?

A mention is any Twitter update that contains an @username anywhere in the body of the Tweet. (Yes, this means that @replies are also considered mentions.)

We noticed people frequently searching for their username to find the Tweets that mention their username anywhere in the message. We collect these messages, as well as all your @replies, in the Mentions tab on the Connect page. If you include more than one person's name in your update and you use the @username format, all of those people will see the update in their personal Mentions tab.

To post a mention on Twitter:

• Type your Tweet as you normally would, but replace any names you include with that person's  @username. Our system will recognize and highlight the username that way, as shown below for this mention of @Twitter.

If I see an @reply in my timeline, how do I know what message they replied to?

Easy! Just click on the Tweet and it will expand to display the Tweet they replied to, as well as other content related to the Tweet.

Things to note:

• When you visit another user's profile page on Twitter, you will not see their mentions. But you can search for all Tweets mentioning their username in the Search box. Search for "@username" to view results.
• People will only see others' @replies in their Tweets timeline if they are following both the sender and recipient of the reply
• People will see any mentions posted by someone they follow (all mentions are treated like regular Tweets)
• People with protected Tweets can only send @replies to their approved followers
• If someone sends you an @reply and you are not following the user, the reply will not appear on your Tweets timeline. Instead, the reply will appear in your Mentions tab.
• @Replies will always have "in reply to @username" listed at the bottom of the Tweet. If a Tweet doesn't have this, it's a mention.

Having Trouble?

Check out our Tweet & DM troubleshooting section for solutions to common problems.