I found someone on Twitter I now follow, how do I request that they follow me? I can't send them a tweet if they don't follow me.

That seems like a good workaround.

Do they get "@username" replies even if they're not following you? I wasn't sure.

yes, they would in their own replies tab (if they check that)
http://twitter.com/replies

It turns out that you don't receive @replies from people who don't follow you.

Just saw it in one Twitter's FAQ pages.

@mdy,

Thanks for your explanation and the link. Woah, am I understanding this incorrectly the whole time?

So here's a scenario I just experienced this afternoon.

- I don't follow a particular, @username
- This username tweeted '@ThomasHan hi blah blah blah'
- I was able to see it in my replies tab at http://twitter.com/replies

A bug? I've always thought that's what it is suppose to do (what I described here...)

@mdy, I found that too.
They might see it anyway, if they had issued a "track theirname". If you use the track command, then you'll get twittered anytime your name shows up in the public list. It won't be a reply, but you'll see it.

@thomashan I suppose there's a chance that the help page is out of date...? Although given Twitter's track record of preferring to respect people's privacy, it does seem like a bug...

@fracture98 Yes I agree about using track alerts. Also, if people use Terraminds or Tweetscan to search for their username on a regular basis, there's a good chance that they'll see other people's attempts to communicate with them.

I get this all the time. Apparently "natalie" is more common than I think. I get people replying to other natalies. I just reply back and say @soandso: wrong natalie. :)

Not sure I am understanding this. If I follow someone but they don't follow me, I see nothing on their page that allows me to message them (there is no "message xxx" option on their twitter page). So on my own twitter page I've tried sending "d xxx follow worldharmony" but that doesn't get sent to them. The track command would allow me to track myself but not them to track me... yeah, it is confusing. It's the lack of the messaging opportunity from "xxx's" page that is the true problem for me.

Hi Allison. Ah -- the confusion comes from the fact that there are actually two concepts: direct messages and @replies.

A direct message is a private message that is sent from one user to another, and you can find the ones that have been sent to you by clicking the Direct Messages link on the sidebar of your homepage.

As you've already noted, Twitter doesn't let you send a direct message to people who don't follow you.

An @reply is different. It's a public message that one user sends to another which begins with the pattern "@username". You can find the ones that were addressed to you in the Replies tab on your home page.

Here are a few Twitter FAQ pages related to @replies:
- What are @replies
- What does @username do
- How to change @replies settings

According to the first FAQ link, we shouldn't be receiving @replies from people that we don't follow.

In his last post above, ThomasHan points out that he's receiving @replies even from someone he doesn't follow, which directly contradicts the FAQ.

Anyway, there's now a separate thread for discussions related to question of whether or not we should receive @replies from people we don't follow.

This does not seem clear at all to me. Does someone you're following (but they are not following you) receive @persona messages?

I really need to send follow me requests to 2 people that I'm following. Thanks

Hi Robert. Yes, a person does not have to be following you for them to see your @reply in their Replies tab.

There's a really good explanation of how @replies work on the Twitter blog.

Thanks, I'll read the info in that link. The @replies is currently disabled for me.

Yes, I noticed that there's a blogpost regarding the @replies tab being disabled at the Twitter Status blog.

My updates are set to private.
When a person asks to follow me, how can I send a message back to them -without- allowing them to follow me?
For example, joeexample sends a follow request to me. Since I don't recognize the username, I need to ask joeexample if we know each other so that I can decide whether or not to let him follow me.

Is this possible?

Hi Decavolt. 8-) We have the same predicament now that I've set my account to private.

Someone else in another thread has requested that @replies from people with private accounts be made visible in the Replies tab of the addressee, whether or not the addressee is already following the private account.

Perhaps if more of us were to request this, Twitter will consider implementing that feature. 8-)

Thanks for the link and reply, mdy. I've posted a vote on that link. Let's home someone's listening.