Would-be Twitter rival T2 adds DMs — a feature others, including Threads, don’t yet have

As the conflict among would-be Twitter rivals continues, 1 of the smaller apps to vie for Twitter’s (now X) fleeing idiosyncratic base, T2, has added an in-demand diagnostic that adjacent Meta’s Threads doesn’t yet have: DMs. The institution precocious announced it added enactment for nonstop messages, which has been among users’ apical requests, it said.

The summation differentiates T2 from buzzier Twitter competitors similar Threads, Bluesky and, to immoderate extent, Mastodon, wherever Direct Messages work a small differently — they are efficaciously conscionable posts that person the “direct” visibility selected but are not end-to-end encrypted.

Similarly, T2’s nonstop messages besides aren’t end-to-end encrypted, but they bash astatine slightest let users to link much privately connected the app. Of course, delicate conversations should mostly not beryllium shared connected caller societal media apps but connected dedicated privateness apps, similar Signal oregon adjacent WhatsApp, which has prioritized encryption.

With the rollout of DMs connected T2 connected July 26th, users tin present find a caller nexus successful the app’s sidebar. The institution explains users tin power who’s allowed to DM them via the Settings tab successful T2. From there, you tin take to let DMs from anyone connected the app, lone from accounts you travel oregon you tin crook disconnected receiving DMs altogether.

The institution said it opted not to encrypt nonstop messages truthful it tin combat spam and harassment successful these conversations. It adjacent built successful nudges successful DMs to automatically observe imaginable insults oregon different threatening behavior, past nudge the sender to alteration their message. Nudges similar this tin beryllium somewhat effective. Twitter, pre-Elon Musk, had erstwhile utilized nudges successful an effort to get users to code down their replies. It said that 34% of radical revised their archetypal reply aft seeing the prompt, oregon chose not to nonstop the reply astatine all. Plus, aft being prompted once, radical past composed 11% less violative replies successful the future, connected average.

T2 was founded by Twitter and Google veterans, including co-founder Sarah Oh, Twitter’s erstwhile quality rights advisor, and Gabor Cselle, who had sold his anterior companies to Twitter and Google. The company’s extremity has been to physique an alternate to Twitter that had an accrued absorption connected spot and information — or, arsenic Gabor’s illustration reads, “a kinder, safer nationalist square.”

That’s an country wherever different Twitter rival, Bluesky, has since stumbled. The second has been nether onslaught for moderation missteps that saw it failing to ace down connected bigotry and adjacent allowing usernames with radical slurs to gaffe done successful caller days.

Bluesky, however, has seen its app installed 1 cardinal times to date, outpacing the fig of invites disposable to its inactive backstage network. T2, meanwhile, continues to run arsenic a web app but is optimized for mobile screens. Its idiosyncratic basal should scope astir 15,000 by the extremity of the week, the institution says. T2 has not yet announced immoderate factual plans astir decentralization — meaning utilizing a protocol similar ActivityPub, which powers Mastodon, and soon Threads, oregon Bluesky’s AT Protocol, successful bid to link with different societal networks.

Currently, the squad views decentralization arsenic a large hurdle to moderation and gathering a lasting, unchangeable and civilian community, we understand, arsenic users tin determination to different servers erstwhile they don’t privation to abide by stricter moderation rules.