Twitter DM Change, Good or Bad?

Twitter recently updated your ability to Direct Message (DM) anyone, rather than just those that follow you, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

This is going to open up a whole new thing for marketers, which we will ruin shortly.

The new DM ability will allow you to message anyone, which can be a good thing.  This removes some restrictions for brands to reach out to people.  Although I still believe the best way to truly reach those that don’t follow you, and have mentioned a keyword for your business, is to address them public with a reply or mention.  If it’s public others can see it and there is some accountability. 

A DM is in private allowing you to send messages that you would not want public, but are frequently ignored due to the abuse they already get.  Many automatic “Thank you for following me..” messages have ruined Twitter DMs already so I am not sure how effective this new ability will be.

In my opinion, brands can use it, but it’s effectiveness may not be what you expect.

If you are worried about getting spammed with Twitter DMs you can opt-out of this new feature and it is also not available to all yet.

You can read more about the new Twitter DM feature and how it impacts brands on Mashable.