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Types of Tweets and where they appear

General Tweets

  • Definition: A message posted to Twitter containing text, photos, a GIF, and/or video.
  • Where it appears for the sender: On the sender's profile page and Home timeline.
  • Where it appears for the recipient: In the Home timeline of anyone who is following the sender.

Mentions

  • Definition: A Tweet containing another account’s Twitter username, preceded by the "@" symbol. For example: “Hello @TwitterSupport!”
  • Where it appears for the sender: On the sender's profile page of public Tweets.
  • Where it appears for the recipient: In the recipient's Notifications tabs, which is accessible only by them. Additionally, mentions will appear in the recipient's Home timeline view (not on their profile) if they are following the sender.
  • Who else sees it? Anyone on Twitter who is following the sender of a mention will see the Tweet in their Home timeline.
  • Places it will never appear: On anyone's profile page, unless they wrote the message.
Note: When you post a Tweet beginning with an @username, only people who follow both you and the account you are mentioning will see the the Tweet in their Home timeline. If you’d like all of your followers to see the Tweet, the best way is to Retweet or Quote Tweet your Tweet.

Replies

  • Definition: A reply is when you respond to another person's Tweet.
  • Where it appears for the sender: On the sender's profile page.
  • Where it appears for the recipient: In the recipient's Notifications tab. Like mentions, replies will also appear in the recipient's Home timeline if they are following the sender.
  • Who else sees it? Anyone following the sender and the recipient of a reply will see it in their Home timeline.
  • Places it will never appear: On anyone's profile page, unless they sent the reply.

Other things you might want to know

About Retweets

You'll find Retweets in your timeline, your profile, and other profile pages on Twitter. To learn more about where Retweets (and your Tweets that have been Retweeted by others) appear on Twitter, read our FAQs about Retweets article.

About Quote Tweets

The Quote Tweet feature allows you to Tweet another person's Tweet with your own comment added. To learn more, read our Retweeting another Tweet article.

About replies sent from accounts with protected Tweets

By protecting your Tweets (making them private), you're telling us that you don't want anyone to see any of your Tweets unless you've accepted their follow request. If your Tweets are protected and you send a reply or mention, only those you've approved to view your Tweets will ever be able to see them. If you want to send Tweets such as mentions or replies to people who are not following you, unprotect your Tweets to make them public.

Where replies between other people appear

If you're not the sender or recipient of a reply, you may still see a reply to someone else in your timeline.

You will see replies in your Home timeline if you are following both the sender and the recipient of the reply, or if we think the reply is relevant to you. Otherwise, you won't see the reply unless you visit the sender's profile page.

If you send a reply to someone, it does not show on their profile page. Only replies that person has sent will show on their profile.

What are Promoted Tweets?

For more information about Promoted Tweets, please read this article.

Having trouble?

View our troubleshooting articles for solutions to common problems.