@Lwasserman you can use the Privacy control widget at the bottom of the post editor window.
Default is Public, with a Globe icon. And there are others, the last one down is Direct Message or DM -- it will only go to people named in the message with their @ usernames @ instance.name
For a local account, here at qoto, you only need @ username (no space in there).
@design_RG @Sphinx Ah. That makes sense. Thank you.
@Lwasserman Gotta love Firefox Screenshot feature. :)