Twitter is starting to improve its private communication features this week. Twitter CEO Elon Musk said that Twitter DMs should now be encrypted to improve privacy. The exec added that DM encryption “will grow in sophistication rapidly.”
Twitter is also introducing DM replies, which allow users to reply to a specific message in a private conversation. Moreover, users can now react to Twitter DMs using any emoji using the new emoji picker.
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
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 also teased the upcoming support for voice and video chats on Twitter. This will allow users to “talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” Musk said. This is another way to push Twitter users to spend more time in the app, and this comes at a time when Facebook is experimenting with bringing back Messenger features into the main Facebook mobile app.
Musk reportedly plans to turn Twitter into a “super app”, similar to how an app like WeChat can replace the Internet in China. However, there’s clearly a long way to go before that happens.