Twitter is developing new voice and video features for its direct messaging interface, which will make it easier to stay in touch with friends and provide more utility within the app.
The above image represents an example of the new Twitter DM interface. The interface would enable easy access to voice and video calls by tapping the call icon at the top right of your DM feed. This could be another way to expand Twitter’s utility, and with Elon Musk looking to convert the platform into an “everything app” that can facilitate a broad range of functions, it’s another step towards expanded usage. Ideally, this will help to shift perceptions of what’s possible within your Twitter approach.
Twitter faces an ongoing battle in shifting traditional behaviours around voice and video calling. Most people already use other messaging apps for these purposes; WhatsApp alone has many times as many users as Twitter. However, if Twitter integrates voice and video calling directly into the app and makes it easy to access, it could encourage new types of engagement that make Twitter a more valuable tool for staying in touch. This would also align with Twitter’s broader push to change how people interact within the app.
Twitter is also testing new restrictions on who can send DMs, which could limit the use of these options to only Twitter Blue paid subscribers. This would significantly limit the value of these options, given that less than 0.3% of Twitter users have signed up for the Twitter Blue program.
However, it is possible that Twitter has a larger plan in mind for DM usage, which could make this a more valuable and viable consideration. For now, the restrictions are still in early testing, and Twitter will soon update its app.
