Twitter has long allowed users to contact each other privately through Direct Messages, but usually only if the two accounts are following each other. That’s about to change.

Twitter will now allow strangers to DM you (if you want them to; more on that in a bit), but those messages will be filtered into a separate inbox where you can choose to delete or accept the communication.

That new feature, which sounds similar to Facebook’s “Other” inbox, only works when a user has enabled a setting that allows them to receive messages from people they don’t follow.

To do this, users must go to the “Privacy and Safety” settings on Twitter and check the box next to “Receive Direct Messages from anyone.”

Once the setting is enabled, incoming messages from people you don’t follow will appear as “Requests” in the Messages tab. Users can then either delete or accept the message. Accepting the message allows people to engage with the other person and the message will officially be moved to their inbox.

Deleting the message will remove it from your inbox. While deleting the message won’t prevent someone from sending you another in the future, the sender won’t be able to see if you delated the correspondence.

[via TechCrunch]

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