The move is part of a broader revamp
of Twitter's direct-messaging product, which also includes the addition of a
new setting that allows users to send and receive direct messages from others
without needing to mutually follow one another, according to AllThingsD.
Twitter has reportedly been
internally testing this setting for weeks, and began rolling it out to the public in a limited
capacity earlier this week.
Private messaging has never been
Twitter's primary focus, and at one stage the company considered killing direct
messaging off altogether. However, the rapid increase in popularity of
personal-messaging apps like WhatsApp, Line and KakaoTalk has forced social
media companies to re-evaluate their messaging capabilities.
KakaoTalk was singled out as a particular
threat in Twitter’s S-1 IPO documentation,
filed earlier this month. Twitter also reportedly ran a survey to find out the
extent to which people are using Snapchat to engage with others.
It is unclear what form Twitter's
standalone direct messaging app could take, but it is likely that it will
target mobile users. Facebook already offers a standalone application called
Messenger for iOS and Android, which fuses Facebook's private messaging
function with technology from Beluga, a startup it bought back in 2011.
In April this year, analysts Informa revealed
that messaging applications have overtaken text messages for the first time,
with 19 billion chat messages sent every day via applications, compared to 17.6
billion texts.
Twitter is currently preparing to
float on the New York Stock Exchange on November 14. The social media business
filed to make its initial public offering last month, around 18 months after
Facebook made its disastrous stock market debut.
Source: Telegraph
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