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Twitter has been working on a lot of changes recently. And while some of them are quite controversial, the company also has some cool features in its plans. On Tuesday, the platform began rolling out an update to its iOS and Android app that brings improvements for sending direct messages (DMs). In addition, Twitter confirmed that it will soon let users make audio and video calls.
“The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” Musk tweeted.
With latest version of app, you can DM reply to any message in the thread (not just most recent) and use any emoji reaction.
Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow. This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
Musk said in a tweet late Tuesday that the latest version of the Twitter app contains changes to direct messages or DMs — nonpublic messages users send to one another.
The CEO said users can now reply to any message in a DM thread, not just the most recent, as well as use any emoji to react to a message. Previously, users would only be able to reply to the latest message in a DM thread and only react with specific emojis.
Musk also announced that encrypted DMs “should” be released on Wednesday.
Encryption in messages means that only the sender and receiver are able to see a message. In theory, Twitter and Musk would not be able to see or intercept direct messages between people.
Interestingly, Musk also said that Twitter has been working on a new voice and video chat feature that should work quite similarly to FaceTime. The company’s CEO mentioned;
“Users Will be able to call using their handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number.”
A lot of people have some major concerns regarding this and the great protection for threat actors that might lead to more crimes online, the overall response from the masses appears to be a greater level of security for all people involved. It’s so much more important than the risks linked to it.
While some people may fail to agree, it’s like seeing the company take on a new approach that’s quite similar to Meta’s in terms of adding End-to-End encryption through various messaging options.
Twitter currently lets users talk live by voice via Twitter Spaces, but Spaces are public and intended for group chats. This will be the first time that Twitter will try to compete with other online audio and video calling platforms.
Musk also said that voice and video calls will be added soon to Twitter so users can “talk to people anywhere in the world” without giving them a phone number.
Since Twitter’s inception, the development of the direct messages feature hasn’t got much attention from previous CEOs. But Musk has signaled numerous times his intention to make Twitter into an “everything app” from messaging to financial services.
New Twitter features Musk promises are not always introduced on time. In February, he said Twitter would introduce a feature to share advertising revenue with creators on the platform. That hasn’t happened yet.
Similarly, the Twitter chief did mention how he’s keen on adding options for video and audio calls soon that’s going to be up for grabs on the app’s DMs while it expands across connective capacity for such an option.
With time, more and more social media apps are converting over to private texting and it’s far away from feed posts generated publicly. Such new inclusions and updates would allow the app to lean into such trends and give rise to a large array of options in people’s connection channels for the app.
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