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Following and connecting on Twitter

Twitter is about more than just sharing your own updates. It also allows you to follow tweets from other users so you can see what's happening right now and connect with people who are important to you.

Watch the video below to learn more about connecting with people on Twitter:

Finding people to follow

When you start following someone, that person's tweets will appear in your timeline. This is a great way to get updates about things as they happen.

1. If you're using Twitter on a mobile device, select the Follow button. If you're using Twitter on a desktop web browser, locate and select View All.
   
2. A list of suggested accounts to follow will appear. Just select the Follow button to start following an account. If you change your mind, select it again to unfollow that user.
   

Starting a conversation

If you want to connect with other people more directly, you can mention them in a tweet. This is also referred to as starting a conversation or tweeting at someone.

1. Select the New Tweet button.
   

2. The tweet box will appear. Type the at symbol (@), followed by the user name of the person you want to mention in your tweet. In our example, we'll type @AliaJones.

3. Type the rest of your post and select Tweet.
   

   

4. When you tweet at someone like this, that person will receive a notification and can choose to respond. By the same token, you can select the Reply button to respond whenever someone tweets at you.

Because conversations can span several tweets, they don't appear on your public timeline by default. This is so your followers won't have to keep up with a conversation you're sharing with a specific user. However, if you do want to share a conversation with your followers, just insert a period in front of the at symbol (like this .@) to make the tweet appear on your timeline.

Private messages

If you don't want to have a public conversation on Twitter, you can send a private message to anyone who follows you. Unlike regular tweets, private messages aren't limited to 280 characters. To send a message, select the Messages icon, choose the person you want to contact, and type your message.

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