Similar to other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram direct messages, Twitter gives users the opportunity to send private direct messages to their friends. Twitter direct messages would allow you send your contacts private short messages through Twitter. The feature is available on mobile app and computer version.
Twitter direct messages are limited to 140 characters like tweets and replies on this social network, the difference is that the only person who can see a direct message is the one who receive it and of course the one who sent it. A Twitter direct message would appears on the Direct Messages page of both the sender and the receiver and it does not appear in the public for every one on Twitter timeline.
How to send Twitter direct messages?
In order to send private messages directly to Twitter users follow the steps bellow.
- Log into your Twitter account on mobile or website.
- Click on Messages in the menu bar. The message window now appears.
- Click New Message to open the message window.
- Enter the Twitter username of the person you want to send a message to. As you start typing a Twitter username, a list of existed names will appear in order to help you find the specific username faster and easier. when you saw your desired name just click on it.
- Enter a message up to 140 characters in the main box and click Send.
You also can go to the profile page of the person you want to send a direct message on Twitter and simply Pull down the menu next to the follow bottom then tap on “Send a Direct Message”, that appears as an option. By this you can send anyone direct messages.
It is possible to send a direct message through the regular tweet box that you type your tweets there, too. You have to add special code before your message in order to share it privately not with everyone on tweet timeline. You must start your tweet with “d” then a space, followed by the Twitter username of the person that you want to send a private message directly.
As an example if you want to send a direct message and start a private conversation with a Twitter user with @sophia username you just need to compose the tweet like this:
d @sophia How about we meet today on city hall?
By this instruction your tweet would be sent privately to Sophia and nobody else would be able to see it.
In order to reply to a Twitter direct message which somebody has sent you, you just need to simply hit the username of the person and then reply box will appear for you to compose your message up to 140 characters. Then click “send” to send your reply.
How to delete or unsend Twitter direct messages?
In case you want to delete a message from your inbox , hover on any particular direct messages you sent or received earlier and tap on the little trash can icon next to it, to delete it. Remember that if you click that icon and delete a direct message from your private inbox, whether you are the sender or the receiver, it will disappear from both of receiver and sender inboxes.
Twitter direct messages notifications
Twitter DM notification
The only way that receivers notify if someone has sent them direct messages is when they are signed into to Twitter, they get an notification message stating “Hey, you just got a Direct Message!”. By the mean users must check their direct messages inbox through their Twitter page regularly in order to understand if someone sent them private messages.
If you have any unread direct messages, a small number showing how many unread messages you have to read, will appear in the pull down menu, next to direct messages bottom. You should click on it to open your messages box and read them. There is a bug reported by some users that the small number appears but there is no unread message, in this case try to log out of your account and login back to fix the problem. You can generally manage the notifications as it is explained later on this article.
Manage your Twitter direct messages features
Here is how to manage your direct messages and go through different provided options.
Log into your Twitter account and open your message archive.There would be a check mark icon at the top of your message menu tap on it and mark all the messages in your inbox as read to remove the notifications.
Tap on a message to open it. Tap on the three dots on any conversation to open the setting menu. There you can see some options. You will face three options for every message:
- You have the option to “Turn off notifications” this would remove any kind of notification for new messages from that particular person.
- You have the option to “Leave conversation” this would remove your contact information from the conversation. Since doing so will delete the conversation from your inbox you have to confirm your decision.
- You have the option to “Flag” a conversation and spam it by selecting this option, you are asked to report that you are flagging as spam or you are marking as abusive.
You can Tap the “Add people” option to add contacts to your conversation, if you want to have a group conversation on Twitter mobile app. On a computer, your group conversation must start out with more than one person and you can’t add new people to existing conversations. Follow the article to know more about it.
How to disable read receipts from Twitter website?
Twitter read receipts
There is an option that Twitter has automatically enabled it on everyone’s profile by default which lets users understand if anyone has read their sent messages via Twitter direct. The read receipts are only visible through the mobile app, and not from the website. If you disable the read receipts no one will know when you read their Twitter direct messages. However if you do so then you will not be able to see when other people have read your Twitter direct messages too. Follow the steps bellow on Twitter website to disable the option.
- Log into Twitter via Twitter website.
- Click on your profile picture.
- On the appeared menu click on settings.
- Scroll down to find Send/Receive Read Receipts option and disable it by removing the check mark.
- Enter your password as it is asked and save changes.
How to disable read receipts from the Twitter mobile app?
This is how to disable the option through Twitter app on mobile devices.
- Open the Twitter app and tap on any device and tap on the Me tab to view your profile.
- Tap on the Settings button next to your profile picture.
- From the list of options, tap on the Settings.
- Open the Privacy and safety settings.
- Toggle the Send/Receive read receipts switch to turn it off.
- Tap on the blue Done button to save changes.
Remember that as you do this you will not be able to see when other people have read your Twitter direct messages as same as others can’t see if you read their messages.
Twitter group direct messages
Twitter group direct messages
The Twitter group direct message feature allows users to have private conversations with up to 20 users in groups. In case a group has fewer than 20 participants at the time it is created, additional users can be added later at any time and by any group member. Adding new members is not up to the group creator. Remember that you can just create group chats with your Twitter followers, but it is OK if some members not to be each other’s follower. Every time a new member be invited in the group older members would get notified of joining the new user. The new member would also get notification of invitation. Group direct messages support pictures, links, emoji, and tweets. Here is how to start a group conversation step by step.
Step 1: Click on “Messages” on desktop or mobile app.
Step 2: Click “New Message”.
Step 3: In the address box, enter the names of your followers to add them to group conversation and click “Next.”
Step 4: Type a message up to 140 character and click “Send message.”
How to Add Members to an existing Twitter group message?
If you have an existing group conversation add members by following the steps bellow.
Step 1: Click on “Messages.”
Step 2: Click on your desired group message to open it.
Step 3: Click the ellipsis shaped icon and choose “Add people” from the appeared menu.
Step 4: In the address box, enter the names of your followers to you want to add them to existing conversation. Then click “Done” to add them to the group message.
The newly added members will not be able to see previous messages on the group conversation.
How can I stop someone from sending me Direct Messages?
If you are annoyed by specific person sending you direct messages on Twitter and you want to stop receiving Direct Messages from that user follow the steps bellow.
- click or tap on that person’s conversation to open it.
- Click or tap the information icon
- Select Report.
- Confirm your choice to stop receiving direct messages from that account
- You always can start the conversation with that person again if you send a message first.
However, to stop receiving messages, you always can block the person account on Twitter. Blocked accounts cannot send you messages, unless you unblock them.
Why am I having trouble sending Direct Messages?
There is an account limitation set by Twitter that each account can only send 1,000 Direct Messages per day. In case you reach this limit, you would not be able to send any more direct messages on that day.
If you are sending the same duplicated Message through direct to multiple users for example sending the same link to different accounts and ask them to view or follow it, it can be reported as spam activity and Twitter would disable the possibility to send more as result. However it is temporary and for a short time around 30 minutes. So hold on for at least 30 minutes without taking any action on sending direct messages to re-enable the feature.
