Twitter Now Allows Direct Messaging In Between Non-Followers

Twitter's direct messaging feature used to only work between users who follow each other. But now, the social media giant is expanding its chat service's capabilities to non-followers. This means that if you do not follow this user, you can still send a direct message to him or her, and vice versa. 

Of course, the feature will not be activated by default. Twitter has confirmed that direct messaging to strangers can only work for any user who opts in to the feature. So for those who like to receive direct messages from their contacts only, they still have the option of blocking out unwanted messages on Twitter.

The feature though could be particularly useful for those who like to reach as many Twitter users as possible. This is especially true of Twitter accounts owned by celebrities or business entities. The newly enhanced direct messaging feature would allow them to receive messages from as many people without having to be connected to them as followers.

A couple of years ago, Twitter had actually already tested this feature, making it available to a select number of users. But for some reason, the social media giant did not decide to follow through.

To activate the feature, users need only go to Settings in order to allow direct messages from non-followers. As for those who tweet using their mobile devices, they will be able to see a direct message button on profiles. The enhanced direct messaging feature is now available on both the Android and iOS platforms.

In the last months, the world has seen many companies make changes to their private messaging tools. For example, Facebook has recently allowed developers to send photos, video content, and other items via its Messenger service, which now has about 800 million users. Not content with that, Facebook also acquired WhatsApp, a text messaging service that boasts over 700 million users, for a hefty sum of $19 billion.

Chat messaging services, in general, are experiencing considerable growth lately, as companies like Snapchat, WeChat, and Line, just to name a few, continue to become more popular with users.

In only makes sense for Twitter to try and spice up its direct messaging feature, too. And its chatting tool is not the only one undergoing some improvements. Twitter has also overhauled the design of its home page in the United States just last week. And earlier this year in January, the company debuted a new group direct messaging feature, as well as 30 second videos in which users can create, edit, and share their own videos from within the Twitter mobile app. Lastly, the company also introduced Periscope, a mobile app that lets users stream live video content.