After introducing a downvote option on tweets, Twitter will now let users send a DM or direct messages to the user directly from the tweet. This will allow them to start a conversation with the author of the tweet without visiting their profile. According to Twitter, this will help users to “start a conversation” directly from the timeline.
Twitter is currently testing this feature by introducing a DM icon on the tweet for some iOS users as of now. However, even before the feature is officially rolled out, it is being criticised heavily online. Many have pointed out that since users will no longer have to take an extra step to visit the profile of the author to slide into DM, it will make the authors of the tweet more susceptible to online harassment. A US public defender Eliza Orlins pointed out the same in a tweet.
Please don’t do this.
One extra step of having to go to someone’s profile to send a DM cuts back on harassment.
This is almost never about “starting a conversation,” when people are sending unsolicited DMs.
At least give us a safety feature to not allow this on our tweets.
— Eliza Orlins (@elizaorlins) February 4, 2022
In a statement to The Verge, Twitter spokesperson Charlotte Catania said that during the testing phase, the DM settings of the user will remain unchanged. As per her email statement, “This particular experiment is not changing the current settings of anyone’s DMs. We’re always exploring ways to make DMs more accessible and valuable for people on Twitter, and they will always remain in control: anyone has the ability to close their DMs in their settings.”
In short, users who have closed their DMs will not see any change with this feature. Twitter iOS users still have the option to close their DMs from settings if they want, even if they are a part of the testing phase.
Additionally, Twitter is working on a new feature called ‘Articles’ that would enable users to share their views and opinions in a slightly longer format as compared to the existing 280-character limit.
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