Twitter has just unveiled a new feature allowing users to privately share tweets via Direct Message.

Message in a #bottle

Twitter announced the news in a blog post.

“Twitter is already a great place for public conversation; now it’s also easier to privately discuss things you care about,” wrote Twitter's Sachin Agarwal. 

Private or public?

To send a tweet in a message, users hold down on a tweet in their timeline and select the “Share via Direct Message” option. 

Once sent the recipient will receive a push notification and the tweet will display in the private conversation.

While not exactly a show-stopping update, it shows that Twitter is amping up its Direct Message features in the face of increasing competition from rivals Facebook Messenger and Snapchat. 

To bad Twitter exec Anthony Noto didn't use the feature before embarrassingly posting a private message on his timeline last week.

Tweets via Direct Message is available on twitter.com. iOS and Android apps and TweetDeck for web.

To find out more visit blog.twitter.com.

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