A couple weeks ago, Bryan lost his keys, causing much upheaval. They’re the kind of keys you can’t copy, thus leaving us with only one key between us and the sitter. This morning, I saw them sitting on the dresser.

Me: Hey! Where did you find your keys?
Bryan: (slightly annoyed) I told you already.
Me: What? When?
Bryan: Yeah, I already told you this.
Me: No. I’m sure you didn’t. Where did you find them?
Bryan: Remember when I was all, “Me and a bottle of cabernet are besting the toddler?”
Me: What? What are even you talking about? Where did you find them?
Bryan: Didn’t you read my Twitters?
Me: … You mean you told me via your public Twitter? Are you kidding me right now?
Bryan: Yeah, remember I was all, “It only took six days, but I bested…”
Me: No. No. Stop saying things out loud.

If you follow me on Twitter (or read my tweets in the left sidebar), you already know I recorded an episode of PBS’s MediaShift a few days ago. The above video is an excerpt of the full show, which is called Twitter Mania, Will it Change the World? Go have a look.

*Post Update: Yikes! I misunderstood the problem. Apparently (and I cringe as I attempt to grasp this) the issue is that you can no longer see conversations between people you do follow and those you don’t, but only if they begin their tweet with an @. So if you were Twittering about Tina Fey, and I don’t follow her, I wouldn’t see:

My tutorial on running search terms is still below. Forgive my misguided first attempt to help, and supply your own ideas in comments. Also, you can tell me if I’m wrong again, and we’ll do this over. The less vitriol the better. Thank you.

As you may know, Twitter recently made a change to how @ replies are received. People are kind of freaking out. If you use Twitter and you still want to see @ replies from folks you don’t follow, do this:

1. Find the search box in the sidebar and type in @ plus your username. I typed in @Maggie:

2. Click on the little magnifying glass to the right of the search box.

3. Verify that your main bar now shows search results on the @replies for that user name:

4. On the top right of the main bar, you’ll see a little green button next to the words “Save this search.” Click there. Here’s a detail view:

5. Look in the right sidebar again. Under the search box, you should see a subtitle “Saved Searches” and a clickable link to searches on the user name you’ve selected. Click on the user name you’ve saved whenever you want to see @replies from everyone, even folks you don’t follow.

For now, I hope that helps. I know it doesn’t address every issue, but it’s an easy workaround for now.

I just finished a new article for The Morning News: Writing My Twitter Etiquette Article: 14 Ways to Use Twitter Politely.

So, you may be asking yourself, “Why should I change the way I Twitter to satisfy a bunch of whiny tweetards who don’t even know how to use Twitter anyway? They can just unsubscribe if I’m breaking their precious rules.”

True. Yeah, I think you have a little spittle on your chin there.

Anyway, some of us would prefer to keep followers from leaving in droves. If that’s the case for you, there are lots of little ways to preserve their sanity. Go have a look.