I’ve been seeing lots of Twitter users making a common mistake. I’m on a mission to help change this.

Here’s the deal: an @ reply, such as the one below, is only visible to the mutual followers of the parties involved. So the following tweet only shows up in the tweet streams of my followers and of @kraftykmay’s. (I had tweeted that I thought I should acquire a fascinator for use in the home office.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Marijean/status/78560816181411840″]

@kraftykmay and I have a lot of the same friends. They “get” us and would be following the (albeit silly) conversation.

Here’s another example of a tweet that’s a reply, but that would benefit a bigger audience that just the mutual followers.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/RelayFoods/status/78492572342943744″]

Later, I learned about a blog from a girl with cancer and thought that not only my friend Darah Bonham who runs @abolishcancer would be interested in reading more about, but that all of my followers would be interested as well. To make sure all of my followers could see the tweet,  I did something really simple:

I put a . in front of the @

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Marijean/status/78564244085415936″]

It doesn’t have to be a period — that’s just the simplest solution. Anything put in front of the @ will do.

Now go Tweet and reply (judiciously, of course) so that everyone who follows you may see it.

You’re welcome. Now somebody buy me a fascinator and I promise to post a pic of me wearing it.

More valuable Twitter tips.