Direct Message Setting (Photo : Twitter)
Everyone can now send a Direct Message to virtually anyone on Twitter provided that they enable the new setting on their account.
In the past, Twitter only allowed direct messages to be sent and received from users who followed mutually. Now, anyone can receive and reply to messages from anyone if they want to after today's update.
Twitter still allows users to block unwanted users. This is because the new update also allows spammers to send more messages to more users.
Besides the new big feature, Twitter also included a new direct message button located on a user's profile page on both iPhone and Android devices. This allows for an easier method of sending a direct message instantly, according to the company's blog post.
Despite the high possibility of abusive spammers, Twitter hopes that the new change helps its users to more easily connect with other businesses, causes and people on their site.
Twitter, as of late last year, already has more than 288 million monthly active users who post an average of 500 million tweets each day, the San Francisco-based company reported.
The decision may be part of its efforts in leveling the competition with other social networking apps such as WhatsApp, who reported in January that more than 30 billion messages were being sent and received using their mobile application, according to BBC.
The Facebook-owned WhatsApp recently added a desktop messaging option in the first quarter of this year, and said that it already has more than 500 million users as of November 2014.
Twitter said that if a user chooses to block another user, the blocked user will not be able to send a DM to the blocker anymore. However, if a user wants to delete a direct message conversation, it is only deleted from one side of the account only-the recipient or the sender will still have a copy if he/she does not choose to remove it.
