Twitter Improves Direct Messages by Adding E2EE, a Reply Feature, & More
Twitter has released some much-requested updates to direct messages (DMs) on the platform. In addition, starting today, Twitter is to begin encrypting DMs to make users’ communications completely secure.
Twitter is expanding direct messaging capabilities
On Tuesday, Twitter announced it had added some very useful and frequently requested DM features. While they are not special, they have proven their usefulness on other platforms. The old Twitter refused to make DMs user-friendly despite numerous requests. Nevertheless, Twitter 2.0 strives to satisfy its users without playing behind-the-scenes games with them.
Platform users now have the option to respond directly to a specific message in the chat. It is a simple but extremely handy feature. It is especially indispensable in group chats, where several participants write messages at the same time.
Another simple but useful extension was the addition of a wider set of emoji reactions to messages. Previously, Twitter users could only choose among 7 different emojis, which was very little. That made it hard to express the emotion you wanted. Now Twitter users have access to a full set of emojis to fully communicate depending on their mood.
Direct messages with end-to-end encryption (E2EE)
Elon Musk announced Twitter will release messages with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) starting Wednesday. “Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow,” he wrote. “This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” Musk added.
Until E2EE is activated, all DMs on Twitter are effectively unprotected. This means that, for example, employees of the platform can see your private messages. The old Twitter was adamant about not making messages on the platform encrypted, for reasons that are unclear. That way it had access to your private messages, at any time. However, once E2EE is activated, no one, including employees of the platform, will be able to access your direct messages.
Twitter will add voice and video chat
Musk also said Twitter will add voice and video chat. This is extremely convenient because people will get more opportunities to communicate. At the same time, voice and video chat will be possible from your Twitter handle to anyone on the platform. This means “you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number.”
This will be a breakthrough and could provide an influx of users who want to take advantage of this feature. At the moment, messengers with E2EE like Signal require the exchange of phone numbers between users to start a chat. However, not all people want to share personal information in order to chat. This means that perhaps not everyone will be interested in using all of Twitter’s features at first, but the ability to chat and make voice and video calls without sharing a phone number may attract many.
