Direct Messaging in Twitter – Alternate Method
Posted By Steve Ulrich on May 25, 2009
I have recently experienced some differences in the way Twitter direct messaging works.
When I first started to use Twitter, all of the Twitter-ID’s for those that I followed and that followed me, appeared in the drop-down box which appears when you want to compose a direct message. I selected the ID and then composed the message.
Recently, I’ve noticed that many of the Twitter-ID’s that I’ve exchanged “follows” with, do not appear. I cannot send a direct message if the Twitter-ID is not in this listing. I found that I can go directly to the Twiter profile for the Twitter-ID I want to direct message, click on “message” for that Twitter-ID and then compose the message. When I do this, I get a pop-up message which alterts me that “if I wanted to open the message, there was no application that could open it, or did I want to save it to my PC.” I found that I didn’t have to save anything, the direct message went through anyway.
In researching information around this conditon, I stumbled upon a blog post by “TwilightFairy” which talked about an alternate method to direct message. I tried this, and it worked. You can try it with a Twitter-ID that you don’t “follow” or have “exchanged follows” with. [Not a guarantee this will work].
In your browser enter the following syntax:
http://twitter.com/direct_messages/create/Twitter-ID. The Twitter “Direct Message” box will become active for that ID and you can post the direct message and send it.
Try this out, and send a direct message to me. You can click right here see this in action:
http://twitter.com/direct_messages/create/steve_ulrich
Remember, if the pop-up box comes up asking you to save the file – click on cancel. The message was sent, you can check this in your Twitter profile in the “direct messages sent” section.
I urge you take advantage of this Twitter Tip soon.
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