After introducing audio tweets fo users in June, Twitter now wants to try out voice DMs. This means that Twitter is toying with the idea of letting users record send voice messages as a direct message. Although this is not something that users have not seen before, the voice messages feature is available in almost all the apps including WhatsApp and Messenger, features like this for Twitter may not always provide a pleasant experience.
As per a report published in Verge, Twitter will start testing voice messages soon on its app and Brazil will be the first country where the feature will be tested. Twitter’s product manager for direct messages, Alex Ackerman The Verge about the development through a 20-second voice message. “We know people want more options for how they express themselves in conversations on Twitter — both publicly and privately,” he told the publication.
Now, as we have seen in other apps as well, the voice message interface on Twitter will be very simple and user friendly. It would feature a record and stop button, which a user would need to continue pressing until he speaks and release the button once he is doing speaking. However, considering that the DMs can only be exchanged between mutual followers, there can be fewer chances of people misusing it. But some people have opened their DM section for all, in that case, if someone misuses the feature, there is also an option to report messages. Once Twitter rolls out the voice messages feature, users should guard their DMs section to avoid any unpleasant experiences.
Twitter received a lot of criticism when they rolled out the audio tweets feature. In an interview with Protocol, Design chief Dantley Davis said, “We shipped something that shouldn’t have been shipped without this conversation happening. Now, we have a full-time accessibility team within product development, and that includes engineering and design. We also changed our product development process, so that accessibility is always considered during even the conceptualization of features. Hopefully, that new development flow is in place as Twitter continues the development of voice messaging.
Earlier, Twitter had announced that it would add more information to the topics that appear under the trends section. This would help people know why something is trending on Twitter.“More trend updates, even more context. We’ll now add improved headlines and short descriptions to some Trends, so you can get the rundown on why something’s trending when you’re in the Explore tab or you tap into a Trend,” Twitter has said.