Twitter is adding a new DM button to tweets so you’ll chat privately

Twitter is adding another button to tweets, but it’s doing so to encourage you to use the Direct Message feature instead of tagging other users.

In the iOS and Android Twitter apps, a new DM button will appear below tweets in your timeline, right next to the ‘favorite’ heart. When pressed, you can share that tweet directly to another user via DM.

The functionality of sharing tweets via DM has been around for some time — this button just makes it easier. The old method called for you to bring up a share sheet via long-press, then select the ‘Share via Direct Message’ option.

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Twitter says the number of Direct Messages sent grew over 60 percent in 2015 (sharing tweets directly in DM was introduced in November of 2014), while the number of tweets shared via DM increased 200 percent.

It’s another way Twitter is making DMs great for all users, and should really help when starting group chats. Similarly, the 10,000 character limit along with this feature may spawn some interesting conversations along the way.