On twitter, what happens when you tweet someone who is not following you?

[sernando_love]

I am following someone who is not following me back, but if I @ them, will they still recieve the message?

[sierrajet1]

yes they will. you can do it with anybody who isn't following you, they'll still recieve some may not reply back (ahem most celebrites) but yes they will

[Abob]

This is an answer I posted to someone else about Direct Messages and will probably answer your question too...

If somebody is following you, you may send them a private direct message (DM).

There are 2 ways to access this...

1. Go to your Direct Message area and select their name from the drop-down menu at the top. If you have a lot of followers, not all of them show up.

2. Go to the profile of the person following you and click on the tool icon (looks like a gray gear) and select Direct Message.

If the person is not following you, the DM option will not show up. However, you can receive a DM from anyone you are following, but can only reply to that DM if they are following you.

For example...you and your friend are both following each other - you can send messages back and forth. But lets say you are following Taylor Swift - she can DM you, but you cannot reply back to her even though she sent you a message. The only way to send a message to someone who is not following you is by using the mention or reply function (@taylorswift13). Taylor won't see your message on her main time-line, but if she searches her own name, your message will show up. Of course your message will be mixed in with the other 2.2 million followers that Taylor has.

Hope that makes sense and happy Tweeting!