Twitter needs brands because brands spend money on Twitter advertising. Brands are often scared of Twitter because it gives consumers an open public forum upon which to complain about bad products, services or ethics. The countless examples in the press demonstrate a shift in ‘the power’. Brands can no longer hide behind shoddy customer service processes, because people can show them up online – not ideal.

The clever people at Twitter have a plan. Their plan involves direct messages, the lesser-utilised feature affectionately known as DMs.

Although not yet in place, Twitter had planned to change how DMs work in July of this year. Currently DMs are private messages, restricted to 140 characters (the same as a tweet) that previously could only be sent to people who are following your account. From April 2015 Twitter included an option whereby you can let anyone DM you, in an update announced by their senior software engineer, entitled ‘easier than ever to have private conversations’. This is an option predominantly used by businesses and requires manual configuration of your Twitter settings.

So what is the big change Twitter has planned?

From July, according to Twitter developers, DMs were to change to be a maximum of 10,000 characters (a bit of an essay). In my opinion, this is better both for brands and for Twitter. Here’s why:

1. It moves customer service to a private forum

DMs had previously been used in this capacity, but their 140-character limit meant brands just had room to send someone an email address or phone number to call to actually deal with the situation. The problem, therefore, was rarely solved over Twitter alone.

2. Brands don’t miss stuff

Brands that receive a lot of mentions in tweets (especially verified accounts) see an edited version of their mentions (otherwise they’d have thousands to deal with!). The downside, of course, is that some slip through the net and various customer comments and complaints get missed. What do you get if you take one irate customer complaining and add a sprinkle of being ignored? You get an even more irate customer, more likely to share their irritations further.

High profile Twitter brands can now signpost customer service queries to their DM service (without looking like scaredy cats) where customers can outline their issues fully.
Complaints are out of public view and can be managed more easily. Consumers aren’t limited to 140 characters and will receive timely and meaningful responses. Win win.

3. People will stay longer on Twitter

Twitter’s 316 million monthly active users spend an average of 170 minutes per month on the site. Allowing longer direct messages turns Twitter’s messaging feature from a short, snappy conversation platform to a place where people can debate, make plans and generally hold lengthy conversations. This means people stay longer on the site, are more likely to see ads, and Twitter can report back better numbers to their board.

4. Twitter DMs will actually be used

Twitter’s DM service has its haters. If fact, a number of critics have requested that Twitter removes the feature all together, claiming they are annoying and spammy. Particularly hated is the auto-DM feature; you know the “thanks for following, check out my wares at www.buymywares.com” DM. Granted, these are incredibly annoying and impersonal but some businesses use them, and some report success from using them.

But automated DMs aside, maybe, just maybe, the fact that DMs will be longer will make them more useful, give them more of a purpose and keep the haters quiet. Maybe.

5. Follower growth

Back to benefits for brands. Although you (irate customer) can start a Twitter conversation with a brand over a DM (when they have chosen to let anyone DM them), you still have to follow them to get a response back. This equals more followers for brands; more people who see their content regularly. If the customer service issues are dealt with well, this would-be complainer may well end up being a brand champion. Good thing.

If you’re a company that uses Twitter as part of your customer service, the increase in character limit could really help. If you’re an irate customer who uses Twitter to rant to or about brands, it could benefit you too.

 

By Jodie Cook, JC Social Media.

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