Twitter users can now chat privately without feeling so tongue-tied

Twitter has recently announced that its users will be able to chat away with larger  DMs.

The popular microblogging platform has now lifted the cap on its Direct Messages by doing away with the 140-character limit, allowing instead for unrestricted conversation.

Sachin Agarwal, Twitter’s product manager for direct messages, said: “Our users will now have the flexibility to write longer and express themselves in a more natural and comfortable way.”

Twitter is no doubt keen to keep up with other chat and messaging apps, but what exactly does this change mean for brands utilising the social networking service as part of its customer service  offering?

Well, first off – it’s good news. It should enhance the customer experience.

Both parties will now be able to say what they want to say quicker as it will be easier to send more information through the channel, allowing for a more effective conversation.

This essentially means that customers will find themselves spending less time trying to resolve a query as the number of interactions will decrease with agents crafting more detailed, comprehensive responses.

An improved customer experience is now on the cards as agents will be able to get to the heart of the matter in the first few messages, resolving the matter more efficiently to the customers benefit.

However, we do need to exercise caution to ensure the spirit of Twitter is not lost.

What we mean by this is that brands should avoid treating Direct Messages like they do email. By over communicating in this way, it may lead to a tendency to try and solve the wrong kind of issue on Twitter, therefore impacting work efforts by spending longer than necessary on a query best suited to another channel.

More detailed issues should continue to be identified early in the conversation and passed on to the relevant channel, allowing the customer a seamless and efficient experience.

Needless to say this news brings both opportunities and challenges.

It is now the responsibility of customer management experts to make the most of the unrestricted conversation space to yield positive results and demonstrate that they can adapt to industry changes and continue delivering the very best customer experience.