# Tweets are Public! News at 11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067 "2013-07-09T18:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/1 "2013-07-09T18:52:52Z")
OK, I don’t do Twitter, but I think I have the basic idea. So I don’t understand how celebrities and athletes and politicians can still be having these “Oops!” moments where they “forget” that their Tweeted comments are public and they shouldn’t put in there things that they’ll regret later. Are they really that careless/thoughtless/absent-minded that they don’t realize the repercussions? Is it an age thing? Is this something that millennials would never do, because they grew up with the concept? Honestly, I don’t get it. I’m used to watching what I say, let alone what I type (I once got in deep trouble at work for using “f\_\_\_” (that’s right, with the underscores instead of letters) in an email to two colleagues) but I guess that’s just my personality. Maybe other people are more free in their communications all the time. What’s your take? Would you be likely to make this kind of mistake? Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/2 "2013-07-09T19:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > What’s your take? Would you be likely to make this kind of mistake? My take is that it’s actually pretty easy to think you’re sending a direct message on Twitter (private) rather than a tweet (public). Additionally, there are ways to link other cell phone functions like text messaging to your Twitter account, adding yet another way to screw up. But I also realize that while all of that is possible, 95% of these “oops, I thought I was sending my friend a DM” are entirely intentional, and being used for publicity. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/3 "2013-07-09T20:35:36Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > OK, I don’t do Twitter, but I think I have the basic idea. As **Munch** pointed out, but I will reiterate, you are missing part of the basic idea, which is that it is possible to send a private message on Twitter rather than a public one, and the difference between the two is just a single character at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/4 "2013-07-09T20:42:35Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > As **Munch** pointed out, but I will reiterate, you are missing part of the basic idea, which is that it is possible to send a private message on Twitter rather than a public one, and the difference between the two is just a single character at the beginning. That’s not correct. Direct messages are completely private and behind the scenes. A tweet that is sent “at” someone is still visible to the public - it just isn’t sent out to people’s newsfeeds. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/5 "2013-07-09T20:48:45Z")
I begin to see how people could be confused by this product. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/6 "2013-07-09T21:37:11Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > That’s not correct. Direct messages are completely private and behind the scenes. A tweet that is sent “at” someone is still visible to the public - it just isn’t sent out to people’s newsfeeds. A properly executed DM is, well, private. It’s not so hard to accidentally send one to the world though. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/7 "2013-07-09T21:44:22Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > A properly executed DM is, well, private. It’s not so hard to accidentally send one to the world though. Correct. But I believe that Absolute is confusing the result of sending the following tweet examples: @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on .@TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on RT @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on The first will send a tweet to Bill Nye, and appear on your wall. The other two will send a tweet to Bill Nye, your wall, and all of your followers. The first can still be seen by anyone, provided you don’t have a private account. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/8 "2013-07-09T21:59:53Z")
[**This**](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126086325) is enough to keep me off it. > [@](#): > > Every public message in the history of Twitter will be included in the [Library of Congress] holdings. Though who knows what happens to Dope posts. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/9 "2013-07-09T22:30:05Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Correct. But I believe that Absolute is confusing the result of sending the following tweet examples: > > @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > .@TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > RT @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > > The first will send a tweet to Bill Nye, and appear on your wall. The other two will send a tweet to Bill Nye, your wall, and all of your followers. The first can still be seen by anyone, provided you don’t have a private account. None of those is a DM? d @Thescienceguy Yer bunson is out of control, dude! is a DM ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/10 "2013-07-09T23:27:18Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > None of those is a DM? > > d @Thescienceguy Yer bunson is out of control, dude! > > is a DM [Nope](http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-send-a-direct-message-on-twitter.html). ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/11 "2013-07-10T00:37:00Z")
Tweets and Facebook give me a very 21st century\* version of the Crotchety Old Man reaction: \*Well, or late 20th century, maybe. Geeze, you young whippersnappers, what the heck is wrong with e-mail?!? I mean, you want to send a “direct message” to someone, just send an e-mail to him! (Sure, you can screw that up too–use the wrong address, or accidentally use the dreaded “Reply all”, but still…) ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/12 "2013-07-10T00:59:19Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Correct. But I believe that Absolute is confusing the result of sending the following tweet examples: > > @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > .@TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > RT @TheScienceGuy You left your bunson burner on > > The first will send a tweet to Bill Nye, and appear on your wall. The other two will send a tweet to Bill Nye, your wall, and all of your followers. The first can still be seen by anyone, provided you don’t have a private account. > [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > None of those is a DM? > > d @Thescienceguy Yer bunson is out of control, dude! > > is a DM And in all those cases, Bill will think, "Jeez, I’m following a guy who can’t spell “bunsen burner”? I hadn’t realized how many pitfalls Twitter had. This doesn’t make me more eager to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tweets-are-public-news-at-11/663067/13 "2013-07-10T01:49:30Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Geeze, you young whippersnappers, what the heck is wrong with e-mail?!? I mean, you want to send a “direct message” to someone, just send an e-mail to him! You got Bill Nye’s email address handy, do you? I don’t personally send many tweets, and even fewer DMs, but of the 200 some people I follow on Twitter, I have zero email addresses for any of them. I could probably find a few for some of the sports reporters I follow, but why bother when I know they’re a) active on Twitter, b) routinely respond to questions and c) can pull in any number of other experts they converse with also on Twitter? [QUOTE=InternetLegend] I hadn’t realized how many pitfalls Twitter had. This doesn’t make me more eager to use it. [/QUOTE] I don’t believe anyone’s trying to convince you to do so. Personally, I get a tremendous amount of utility out of Twitter, but in the four years I’ve had an account, I’ve sent out a grand total of 325 tweets.