Twitter expands the meaning of 'direct message'

Twitter added two new features today; both designed to keep you on the platform for just a little bitlonger.

First, they've expanded the definition of a "Direct Message" so that it includes a conversation withup to 20 people.

I say, if you're having a conversation with 20 people on Twitter, you might as well have it in publicbecause . . . . 20 people!

Remember, you can only send a direct message to someone who is following you but this updatemuddies the water a little. When you send a group direct message, each person has to be followingyou but they don't have to be following each other. Does that mean the odd man out can or can't seethe replies from the other people? For this to work, everyone has to see every reply, right? So now,two people who don't follow each other (maybe for a good reason) are now a part of the same,private conversation.

This could get ugly.

It could also be a handy way to share information with co-workers or connected customers; like all ofthe decision makers from one company.

You can also use this new feature to share a public tweet with a private group of people. In theexample, a man shares a photo of a rabbit that he found on Twitter with a group of friends with thesuggestion that they buy one as a gift for a 'not-included in the DM list' friend. I suggest they don't.

The second new feature is the ability to capture,edit and share videos right from the Twitter app. The camera functionality is like Vine. You switch tocamera mode then hold down the button to film. If you film in short bursts, you can then eliminateany clip with a swipe. What you leave behind will automatically splice itself together to create avideo.

Now there's no excuse for not using video on your business Twitter.

Twitter is slowly rolling out both of these options to all users. So keep watching your app forupdates.

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2015/01/twitter-expands-the-meaning-of-direct-message.html