What's a message? (formerly called a direct message)

A message (previously called a direct message) is a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers. (This is different than mentions and @replies.)

• In turn, people you follow can send you a private message
• You cannot send a direct message to a user who is not following you

How to send a private message via the web

Here are the steps to send a direct message:

• Log in to your Twitter account
• Click the Messages button on the top menu bar of your page
• You'll land on a page showing your private messages history. Click the New Message button, highlighted below. Click to send a new message
• In the pop-up box, type the name or username of the person you wish to send to
• Enter the message you wish to privately send, and click Send

Tip: Make sure that user follows you. You may only send a direct message to your followers.

How to send a private message from your phone

In addition to sending direct messages from the web, you can also send direct messages from your phone and most 3rd party applications.

• Open a text message window to your Twitter short code, or logging in to your application
• Begin your message with a letter "d" and the username of the follower your wish to message, like this: d olivia
• Type your message, being careful not to exceed 140 characters. (Example: d Support Hey support! Thanks for your help.)
• Send the message

Note: If your message is longer than 140 characters and Twitter receives it intact, we will send your message in two parts for you. But, beware: if your service provider breaks up long messages into two parts before sending the message to Twitter, we will only see the d+username attached to the first message! The second part will post to the public time line as a regular update because it doesn't have the d+username preceding it.

Receiving private messages on your phone

If your Twitter account is connected to your phone, you can receive direct message via text message.

Here are some related articles:

• Read this article about setting up your mobile preferences to learn more
• Haven't added your phone yet? Find more information about adding your phone here
• Added your phone already? Find out what commands you can use

Understanding private messages

Direct messages behave more like tweets than emails: the sender or recipient of a DM can delete the message, and it will disappear from both sender and recipient inboxes.

The number next to your Direct Messages tab reflects the number of direct messages in your inbox.

If this number has changed recently and you have not deleted any of your messages, remember: the sender of the direct message has the ability to delete messages from your inbox, these messages are not mysteriously disappearing or getting lost.

I'm not seeing all of my Messages!

If you can't see all of your messages, it's because:

• New Twitter shows only your 50 most recent messages – both sent and received
• If you need to retrieve or reply to an old message, please leave the preview of new Twitter and use old Twitter
• Remember, your old DMs are not gone, they're just stored in our database