How do twitter mentions work?

[Amateurcow592]

If I wanted to say something to someone that isn't following me, can I mention them by putting a @ and the there twitter name,
Does that mean they will be able to see it and reply if they want to?
Can any one give me a brief explanation please?!
Thankyou!

[Nikki]

yup! if you put @ then someones name it will come up in their mentions, as long as you get the name right.

[Lydia]

That person doesn't have to be following you for you to mention them. They can still see it and reply. Here's an example; "@onedirection congratulations on the awards!" <--example name don't judge

Just put the persons username after the @ symbol. If you want words after their username, make sure there's a space between the username and the words or it won't work! Hope this helps you(:

[hollisterr12]

In order to tweet a user on Twitter you always have to put a "@" in front of their username. While putting a "@" in front of the users Twitter name that tweet will then get sent to that users mentions and they will reply back to it if they want too. An example sentence "Hey '@username' how are you doing today?". Twitter is quite confusing but you will get used to it in no time.