For quite a while, Twitter has been trying to make Direct Messages a thing, and today the latest improvement has arrived: a direct message button in tweets. Whether this will make anyone actually share a specific tweet in a private message, who knows, but it's there anyway. Keep in mind this button only being added to Twitter's mobile apps; no word if it'll be added to the web app, or anywhere else for that matter.

Screenshot_20160405-204508 Screenshot_20160405-124759

Left: previously. Right: latest version.

For a while, Twitter has had 'share in Direct Message' as an option under the share menu in the Android app, but this move prominently displays the icon on the far right of a tweet, next to the 'Like' button that was added (replacing the favorite star) late last year. Tapping the button will take you to the same screen that the older system did, asking you if you'd like to 'Talk privately'. Essentially, it removes one tap from sharing a tweet in a Direct Message.

So the button essentially just makes 'Direct Message' more prominent amongst more, um, popular options such as reply, retweet and like. Time will tell if this will cause more people to use the direct message functionality. According to Twitter's blog, the update will roll out today to the Android app, although curiously some Android Police staff have the option, while others don't.

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