Twitter now prides itself on being “more dynamic than ever with read receipts, typing indicators, and web link preview”, new features that are enhancing the Direct Messages (DM) functionality of the micro-blogging site to bring it in line with Facebook Messenger and the new iOS 10 iMessage – TechCrunch reports.
Twitter reported this new development in a tweet that went live a few hours ago, and it is now something users can activate as soon as they want to.
How the new twitter DM features work
With the new Read Receipts feature, Twitter will inform you when anyone opens or reads your direct messages; and when people within your group views your shared items.
It must, however, be pointed out that users are free to turn off this option in their 'privacy and safety' settings; but you must understand that when turned off, your contacts won’t know you’ve read their messages and posts just as you won’t know when they read yours.
The typing indicator makes it easy for you to see when anyone is typing a response to your direct messages, just as you can observe this with other message apps on mobile devices. What is not known at the moment is if Twitter will make its DM functionality a standalone chat service like that of Facebook Messenger.
The web link previews enables you and others to preview links inserted in direct messages before clicking on them. This will allow users to know where the link leads before they click to follow or open them.
Twitter drops 140 character limits from direct messages
While Twitter has remained largely adamant on retaining its 140-character limit for tweets on main timelines, it has removed this constraint from direct messages sent to friends and other users on the site. According to Digital Trends, this means users of the micro-blogging can write and express themselves “using an unlimited amount of characters” in direct messages.
It should be added that Twitter which introduced retweet with comments last year is now allowing rich media sharing with images, emojis, and GIFs now activated for all purposes on the site. Users can now enjoy a whole new experience with these new features on Twitter with the new social media vistas that the micro-blogging site is opening up to everyone.
