Twitter adds message button to tweets as sharing on DM soars
Twitter has released a ‘message’ button which makes it easier to share a Tweet via a direct message (DM) and start a private conversation today (5 April).
The new feature has been developed on the back of the number of Tweets shared privately growing by 200 per cent in the second half of 2015 alone.
Twitter's product manager Somas Thyagaraja said: “Every day, millions of people send DMs to communicate privately with friends, family, experts, brands, and anyone else they find interesting on Twitter.”
“With all this interest, we’ve also heard from many of you that it could be easier to share a Tweet using DMs. So now — in just a few taps — you can share unique Twitter content from your timeline right into your private conversation.”
The update is Twitter’s latest step towards making conversations richer in DMs. Last year it removed the 140 character limit from DMs, and announced just a few months back it was making it easier for businesses to deal with customer service requests by introducing a quicker way to start a direct message.
The Message button will be available today on Twitter for iOS and Android.
The introduction of the new feature comes as consumers increasingly use private messaging channels to share information in a trend that industry observers have labelled as 'dark social', a trend indicated by the rise of messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and