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Now you can send private messages to anyone on Twitter, as the company launches direct messaging between users who don’t follow each other.
Twitter is working on improving its services in order to attract more users and keep up with the fats developing competitors, like Facebook and SnapChat.
The social platform has created a new feature that allows direct messaging between users, even if they don’t follow each other.
Twitter announced that so far their direct messaging method required for users to follow each other before they were allowed to send each other private messages. With the release of the new feature, every Twitter user will have the option of direct messaging, if they wish too.
This new feature might come in handy for celebrities or big companies, who now have the chance to respond to people sending them messages without them needing to have had any other type of connection before. For example journalists and media will be able to receive more easily messages and tips from anonymous profiles.
This option, has been first tested by Twitter in 2013, when it was released just for a part of users, but only now the social media platform has started to develop it more.
People wishing to activate this feature, can enable it from setting and if they don’t want it they should know that is turned off by default. So no one will receive messages from strangers unless they chose to activate the option.
As for IOS and Android users, they will have a special button for this purpose which will be visible only on the profiles of people who opted to receive direct messages. The direct message sending is available also for people you follow but don’t follow you back.
Trough this, Twitter aims to strengthen its messaging experience and make communication much easier and faster.
But enhancing the private messaging field is something that all social media platforms (which are direct competitors of Twitter) have been trying to accomplish and make it as easier as possible.
Facebook has also been improving its messaging option, making it possible for users to send pictures, videos, files trough its Messenger. WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, who presently has 800 million users is expected to reach 1 billion users and Snapchat is working with 200 million users and is showing a fats grow also.
A security measure had to also be taken to protect people using direct messaging on Twitter.
On Facebook, every message you receive from a stranger, is considered junk and goes directly to a section created for that, which most users don’t even know it exists.
On Twitter, people who no longer want to receive messages from a certain person, all they have to do is to delete the message string from that particular person who you don’t follow and doesn’t follow you. In this way that person will be blocked from sending you further messages.
Twitter has started a serious campaign of improvement. A week ago, the social media platform has released a complete new design for its home page in the U.S. which allows new users to navigate without needing to sign in.
In January, Twitter has released a feature that makes it possible for users to film a 30 second video, edit it and post it trough the Twitter app.
Image Source: the guardian
