Can you explain this about Twitter?

[nparab]

When you post a normal update, it gets submitted to the timeline (home page) of all people who follow you... but if you type @jane at the beginning of any update, then the update gets submitted to only the timeline of the user "jane"...

When you click on "reply" for a specific update posted by user "jane", what happens is the @jane part gets pre-filled so that you don't have to type it out... all you have to do is type your message after it and send..

The message gets posted to jane's timeline, and also appears inside her "replies" tab (which is like an inbox for replies sent to her specifically)...

Additional Details:
If you remove the automatic @jane after clicking "reply" on jane's update, and then type in your reply and send, it will behave the same way as your normal update instead of a reply to user "jane". That is: it will show up in the timeline of all your followers (just like your normal updates), instead of showing up only in jane's timeline and her "replies" tab

PS: Your @jane reply doesn't show up in jane's profile (twitter.com/jane) where her updates show up... it shows up on her home page (when she logs in) and in her "replies" tab...

Your @jane reply does show up on the public timeline though (twitter.com/public_timeline), so it is considered public. If you want to send her a message which is NOT on the public timeline, then you have to send her a "Direct Message" which you can send to her only if she is your follower...

How to send a "Direct Message" is explained here: http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/10711/entries/14606