In yet another example of the social media technology version of keeping up the with Joneses, Twitter announced today that it’s rolling out changes to Direct Messages that will make the platform a lot more like its competitors, including read receipts so you’ll know if your friend is deliberately ignoring you.

Twitter rolled out the update to its service today, ostensibly in an effort to compete with services like WhatsApp and iMessage, and perhaps as a sign that a standalone messaging app could be in its future.

Alongside read receipts, there will be typing indicators — so you can tell when that friend who decided to take his sweet time replying to you has actually started writing back — and new web link previews that resemble what you see now when writing a regular Tweet.

If you’re the kind of person who would rather not know when you’re being shoved aside, you can turn off read receipts in your account’s Security settings under “Direct Messages.”

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