How to DM on Twitter (Direct Messaging 101)

Yes, Twitter gives you the opportunity to send a tweet, post a mention to someone, but what if we want to have a chat in private? Can’t we DM on Twitter and go more in-depth with our approach to strangers?

Well, luckily, like the other social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, etc. you can send some other Twitter users a private message on Twitter too.

If you want to have a conversation with a person or a group of your friends, you can send them a DM on Twitter anytime you wish, and only you two will see that conversation.

It’s a great feature, you can even send each other someone else’s tweets.

Don’t worry, in this article, we will inform you about the whole topic.

Table of Contents

What Is a DM? (Direct Message)

A direct message is a Twitter feature that allows you to send a private message to a Twitter user.

It is different from mentioning someone because posting a mention is something that can be done in public feed but sending a DM is outside of the public feed.

So when you send a DM to someone or even if you share someone else’s tweet with them, only the person you are interacting with will see that DM.

That’s why it’s called a “direct” message. You are directly talking to a specific user in private.

Why Can’t I Send Direct Messages?

Well, we are ready to send DMs but we can’t! But why?

There can be a few reasons.

The person might not be following you.

Obviously, Twitter wants DMs to be personal and private.

So if the person you wanted to chat in private didn’t follow you and didn’t enable the “Receive direct messages from anyone” option, you can’t send them a direct message.

Of course, this applies to you too.

Even if you have a protected account, if you enable the “Receive messages from anyone” option, you can receive direct messages from anyone on Twitter, even if you don’t follow them.

To enable this option;

Go to your Twitter app.
Open “Settings and Privacy.”
Choose “Privacy and Safety.”
There is an option that says, “Receive messages from anyone.” Tap that option. When it’s green, you can now receive DMs from anyone on Twitter. If you don’t want to use that feature anymore, just tap that again.
But don’t forget, if you are not following someone and they send you a DM, it will show up on your “Message requests.” It is on the “Messages” screen. When you tap a message request, you can “Accept” or “Delete” it.
If you accept their message, you will let them message you. When you delete it, it will be removed from your inbox, but they can send you another request. If you don’t want them to message you anymore, you can always report or block them. Also, they won’t know you’ve seen their message until you accept it.
Even better, there is a quality filter. When you go to the “Messages” screen and tap the icon on the top right of your screen, you will open the “Message settings.” There is an option called “Quality filter.” It will filter lower-quality messages from your DM requests.

It might be a good idea to get new Twitter followers for your profile, considering that you’re open to interacting with anyone.

The person might have been blocked you.

Let’s say you were having a conversation with somebody on Twitter, you were sending each other DMs. Then something happened; maybe you argued, maybe you just stopped talking, etc.

Then someday, you want to send them a DM on Twitter but instead of a “Start a message” box, there is an alert says “You can no longer send Direct Messages to this person.”

Sorry but bad news; this person blocked you, my friend.

Like Twitter says, you can’t send a direct message to him/her anymore. You can’t even follow them or see their tweets.

You might have been gone over the limit.

Twitter limits the DMs you can send for a day. But don’t worry, it’s not a little number.

It’s 1000 DMs per day.

If the person follows you, but you still can’t send him/her a DM, check if you went over the limit.

Maybe you had way too many conversations that day but didn’t notice it. If you really reached it, you have to wait till the next day to send a DM on Twitter.

Your DMs might have been reported as a spam activity.

If you are sending the same direct messages to more than one account, these DMs could also be linked, these DMs might have been reported as a spam activity.

But it’s not a permanent issue. You need to wait like 30-40 minutes; after that, you can start to send new DMs.

How to DM Someone on Twitter?

There are a few easy steps before you send a DM on Twitter.

How to DM on Twitter Using Your Mobile Device?

Tap the Twitter app on your phone. If you haven’t logged into your Twitter yet, log in first by typing your username and password. If you already logged into Twitter, your public feed will open automatically.
Tap the envelope icon. It is placed at the bottom right of your screen.
Again, at the bottom right of your screen, there is a blue envelope icon with a plus on it. Tap on it.
Search for people and groups by using the search box. Type the username of the person you wanted to talk to or select more than one person to create a group.
After selecting, type your message in the “Start a message” box and to send your message, tap the paper airplane icon.

That’s it! Also, you cand send GIFs, photos and videos with your messages.

Next, to the “Start a message” box, there are two icons. If you tap the GIF icon, you can search for GIFs and send them.

If you tap the other icon, you can take and send a new photo and video or select an existing one to send.

How to DM on Twitter Using Your PC or Mac?

Open your web browser and go to Twitter’s website.
If you’re already logged into your Twitter account, your public feed will open; but if you haven’t, you should log in first by typing your username and password as we said earlier.
On the left side of your screen, there are options like home, explore notifications, etc. Select “Messages.” This will take you to your messages screen.
You can tap the blue envelope icon with a plus on it, it’s on the top of your screen, or you can select the “New message” where it says “You don’t have a message selected. Choose one from your existing messages or start a new one.”
Search the person’s username or select a group. Then tap “Next.”
So now you can start a new message, send a gif, photo, video or emoji to the person or people you choose to chat with.

How to Check If Your Direct Message Has Been Read on Twitter

Yes, now you can also know if someone has seen your messages, Twitter got a feature for that too.

Let’s see how we are going to use this feature, there are two ways to enable it:

From Settings and Privacy

Open your Twitter app. Log in if you haven’t logged into yet.
Tap your profile icon and then select “Settings and Privacy.”
Select “Privacy and Safety.”
There is an option that says, “Show read receipts.” If you enable it, this feature lets you know when they have seen your message. Also, it will let them know when you have seen their message too. If you turn this off, you can’t see read receipts, and they can’t see them from you.

From Message Settings

If you are already on your “Messages” screen, just tap the icon at the top right of your screen.
It will take you to the “Message Settings.” You can enable “Show read receipts” on this screen too.

Now, just go to one of your conversations. Tap your message bubble. If the person has seen your message, it will say “Seen” with a checkmark.

If you enable the feature but still can’t see it, maybe the other person hasn’t seen your message yet or didn’t enable the “Show read receipts” feature.

Conclusion

Now since you know how to send a DM on Twitter, you are ready to slide into someone’s DMs.

Go and send them a cute GIF, a pic of your dog and maybe ask for their number. You can always delete your Twitter account and vaporize from the existence if you get rejected.

Moreover, how can you know? Life’s what you make of it, and we believe in frequencies and vibrations.

Maybe one of the biggest opportunities of your life is sitting just around the corner, you just don’t know it yet.

Thanks for reading this article, did you ever get rejected while sliding into someone’s DMs? If yes, let us know down in the comment section. We love humorous stories.