Twitter is making some small tweaks to DMs but search still sucks

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Twitter is making a few minor changes to how direct messages work. The biggest change? Less chance of starting accidental group chats when you want to send the same message to more than one person.

Now you can send the same message to up to 20 people, in a new DM dialog that clearly states “Send message separately.” Nice, no more confusing group chats when you accidentally fat-finger groups of friends that you don’t want talking to each other.

That’s coming to iOS and web right now, with Android coming “soon.”

Twitter also is bringing a “quick-scroll button” to chats, so you can tap it to get to the latest message. Seems handy, but I wish they’d add a real search function so you don’t have to scroll manually through years of DMs. That’s rolling out to Android and iOS right now.

iOS is getting two new tools, that should help both responding and scanning through long message chains. You can now react to messages by long-pressing on them, and selecting “Add reaction” from the menu that pops up. Messages on iOS are also going to be grouped by date, so it’s easier to read the timestamps. That one I’m looking forward to, for sure.

Twitter has been on a spree of quality of life improvements lately, like finally adding the option to report misinformation, changing its font, and a misguided effort to change the follow buttons.

Oh, and it stopped its verification program, yet again, after it verified a bunch of bots. Way to go, team.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.