When you want to reply to someone on twitter, should you send a direct message or publicly tweet back at them?
I am fairly new to twitter and trying to better under twitter etiquette. Is there a good place to learn this? In particular, when someone retweets you or tweets at you, should you publicly tweet back or have a private conversation with a direct message?
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Nov 9, 2015
Whenever someone retweets you and tweets about you, you should reply back and pay gesture by tweet back to them. In this way, the person with whom you are interacting pays special attention towards you.
replying to tweets is not a good option because most of the people who are too busy on their social media avoid reading messages as most of messages are automated ones.
Nov 8, 2015
Hi Samantha, great question! You've been given some great answers already. So to break it down, it all depends on the nature of the tweet. For instance:
If the tweet was sent publicly, but your reply will contain private/sensitive information, send a Direct Message but at the same time send a public tweet to notify the person that you have sent a Direct Message. Due to the high rate of spam in Direct Messages not everyone checks their DM inbox, that's why you need to follow up the DM with a public tweet.
If the tweet was sent publicly and your reply doesn't contain private/sensitive information, then reply publicly.
If the tweet was sent publicly by a celebrity/influencer and your reply doesn't contain private/sensitive information, you would most likely want others to know that you were exchanging tweets with that celebrity/influencer. In this case, you'd need to put a . before the celebrity/influencer's @ twitter handle. This will make your reply visible not only to the person you are replying but to everyone else. Without the . before the @ your reply would be seen in other people's timeline.
If the tweet was sent through a Direct Message, then reply through a Direct Message but also send a public tweet to let the person know that you've replied through a Direct Message.
As others have mentioned already, there are certain issues that need to be resolved off Twitter. In this case, you have to notify the person about the channel you wish to use to address the issue.
Hope this helps?
Nov 8, 2015
Hi Samantha,
Great question. It is pretty common to reply publicly. However, with that being said, if it is a customer service issue to requires a response you wouldn't want anyone else to read, then a direct message is favored.
Twitter is a great tool, best of luck!
Charlotte Chipperfield
@thewinekey
Nov 8, 2015
Well, of course that depends. But when it comes to twitter you'd be better off publicly tweeting it. If it has to be private communication I'd use something other than twitter altogether.
Nov 8, 2015
It depends on the nature of the message. If it is a private message or one that you think would not put them or yourself in a positive light, then keep it private. If the message being visible to the public would benefit them, put a . before the @, if it is the first word in the tweet.