Twitter has announced changes to the way in which its Replies feature works.

Replies is now known as Mentions and comes in the form of a tab located in each user's Twitter sidebar.

This tab shows a list of all of the tweets that make a reference to the user's own account through the @username convention at any point in the tweet.

Previously, replies only showed tweets with @username at the start of the message.

The update will also be integrated in the relevant Twitter application programming interfaces, founder Biz Stone said in a blog post.

He explained that the update was needed because a growing number of people are mentioning other users at various points in their tweets, not just at the start.

"For example: I'm flying @jetblue to Boston. Also, folks reference multiple accounts in a single tweet like this: I'm flying @jetblue to Boston with @ev @crystal and @goldman," Mr Stone stated.

"Today's update better reflects how folks are using Twitter now."

Twitter recently announced the formation of a deal with Vodafone UK that will let customers of the mobile operator receive SMS Twitter updates for free.