Twitter - seeing all conversation?

[Z L]

(not a twitter user as such - so could be a dumb question)

but how do I see both parts of a conversation with someone (if I am not friends with both people) ?

eg the BBC has Moneybox twitter account,
http://twitter.com/#!/paullewismoney/

He invites people to join him in his newsletter..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/mo...276397.stm
(as do other programmes wanting instant feedback)

They say there are 35,300 friends/ followers
Now the BBC user can see all,
but when I look at the twitter list all I see are random replies, out of context.
So without trying to add all 35,300 current users (and they accepting me ?) how do I see the conversation.

eg if I opened a twitter account, and installed a twitter app on a PC or Mobile,
would I see all sides automatically ?

And if I tweeted to other newsboxes/ people , would they then see those ?
really want privacy groups - public and private ??

anyway... maybe someone can help,
being invited to join the twitter chat seems fine,
but one sided makes one feel a little like a gooseberry !

[Tanisha]

You only see what the list of users you have followed have tweeted.
If you search for @user then you see a list of people who have aimed a message at that user.
It isn't a set of threaded discussions/conversations. There is no context. It's a micro blog.