Joined twitter but need help learning how to use it please?

[Susan C]

To send a reply you put the @ followed by the Twitter id of the person you want to reply to and then a space before you type your message.

In other words if 1 of my followers wanted to send me a reply they would put @SusanCarroll Thanks for the info... in the update box.

When you type in the @TwitterID you should see the input button change to a reply button so you'll know you've done it right.

As for the stuff in the right column:

The @YourTwitterID link shows you all the replys you've received

Direct Messages is used to send and receive private messages to your followers.

Favorites are the tweets you've received that you marked as being a favorite. You can mark you favorite tweets by clicking the star that appears when you move your cursor over the tweet.

Hope this helps.

Susan