T2 Adds DMs, a Feature Lacking in Meta’s Threads, to Attract Twitter Users
Twitter Rival T2 Adds Direct Messages Feature
As the battle among would-be Twitter rivals continues, one of the smaller apps to via for Twitter (now X‘s) fleeing user base, T2, has added an in-demand feature that even Meta’s Threads doesn’t yet have: DMs. The company recently announced it added support for direct messages, which has been among users’ top requests, it said.
The addition differentiates T2 from buzzier Twitter competitors like Threads, Bluesky, and to some extent, Mastodon, where Direct Messages work a little differently — they are effectively just posts that have the “direct” visibility selected but are not end-to-end encrypted.
Similarly, T2’s direct messages also aren’t end-to-end encrypted, but they do at least allow users to connect more privately on the app. Of course, sensitive conversations should generally not be shared on new social media apps but on dedicated privacy apps, like Signal or even WhatsApp, which has prioritized encryption.
With the rollout of DMs on T2 on July 26th, users can now find a new link in the app’s sidebar. The company explains users can control who’s allowed to DM them via the Settings tab in T2. From here, you can choose to allow DMs from anyone on the app, only from accounts you follow, or you can turn off receiving DMs altogether.
The company said it opted not to encrypt direct messages so it can combat spam and harassment in these conversations. It even built-in nudges in DMs to automatically detect possible insults or other threatening behavior, then nudge the sender to change their message. Nudges like this can be somewhat effective. Twitter, pre-Elon Musk, had once used nudges in an attempt to get users to tone down their replies. It said that 34% of people revised their initial reply after seeing the prompt, or chose not to send the reply at all. Plus, after being prompted once, people then composed 11% fewer offensive replies in the future, on average.
Building a Trustworthy Community
T2 was founded by Twitter and Google veterans, including co-founder Sarah Oh, Twitter’s former human rights advisor, and Gabor Cselle, who had sold his prior companies to Twitter and Google. The company’s goal has been to build an alternative to Twitter that had an increased focus on trust and safety — or, as Gabor’s profile reads, “a kinder, safer public square.”
That’s an area where another Twitter rival, Bluesky, has since stumbled. The latter has been under attack for moderation missteps that saw it failing to crack down on bigotry and even allowing usernames with racial slurs to slip through in recent days.
Bluesky, however, has seen its app installed 1 million times to date, outpacing the number of invites available to its still private network. T2, meanwhile, continues to operate as a web app but is optimized for mobile screens. Its user base should reach around 15,000 by the end of the week, the company says. T2 has not yet announced any concrete plans around decentralization — meaning using a protocol like ActivityPub, which powers Mastodon, and soon Threads, or Bluesky’s AT Protocol, in order to connect with other social networks.
Currently, the team views decentralization as a major hurdle to moderation and building a lasting, stable, and civil community, we understand, as users can move to other servers when they don’t want to abide by stricter moderation rules.
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– h1: Twitter Rival T2 Adds Direct Messages Feature
– h2: Building a Trustworthy Community
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The article highlights T2, a smaller app competing against Twitter and its rivals, that has introduced a highly requested feature: direct messages (DMs). This sets T2 apart from other competitors like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon, where DMs work differently. Although T2’s DMs are not end-to-end encrypted, they offer users a more private connection within the app. The option to control who can send DMs is available through the Settings tab. T2 also implements nudges to detect and discourage insulting or threatening behavior in DMs. These measures aim to combat spam and harassment.
The article also mentions T2’s founders, who come from Twitter and Google backgrounds, emphasizing their focus on building a platform centered around trust and safety. In contrast, Bluesky, another Twitter rival, has faced criticism for moderation failures. While Bluesky has seen significant app installations, T2 continues to operate primarily as a web app optimized for mobile screens.
The article touches on the challenge of decentralization, noting T2’s hesitation in adopting protocols like ActivityPub or Bluesky’s AT Protocol to connect with other social networks. The team believes decentralization poses moderation challenges, as users may move to alternate servers with less stringent rules.
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Readers are encouraged to engage with the article by considering the implications of T2’s introduction of DMs, the importance of trust and safety in social media platforms, and the challenges associated with decentralization. The article invites users to reflect on the role of encryption in private conversations and how nudges can potentially shape user behavior online.
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