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How to Post and Delete Direct Messages (DMs)

Bug Alert:
  • Some users are currently experiencing an issue with direct messages disappearing, without the sender or receiver deleting them from their inbox.
  • Some users may experience a delay in DM delivery. A notification may arrive to your email inbox, but the DM won't appear for some time after the email delivery.
  • Some users are reporting that they are unable to send a direct message from a profile page or pop-up. These users should still be able to initiate a DM from their direct message inbox with no issue.

These are bugs, and our engineers are hard at work to solve these issues. Follow @support for updates!

Definition: A direct message (DM) is a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers. You can only send a direct message to a user who is following you; you can only receive direct messages from users you follow.

To send a direct message via the web:

  1. Sign in to your Twitter account.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top right and select Direct messages from the drop down menu. (You can also click on the envelope icon on your profile page). 
  3. You'll see a pop up showing your direct message history. Click the New message button.
  4. In the address box, type the name or username of the person you wish to send a message to.
    Tip: Make sure that user follows you. You can only send a direct message to your followers even though you can receive messages from all users you follow. 
  5. Enter your message and click Send message.
Please note: t.co links, even those shared via DM, are neither private nor public. Anyone with the link will be able to view the content.

To delete a direct message via the web:

  1. Click on the gear icon and select Direct messages from the drop down menu. (You can also click on the envelope icon on your profile page).
  2. You'll see a pop-up showing your direct message history. Click the conversation containing the message you'd like to delete.
  3. Locate the desired message and hover your mouse over it. A trash can icon will appear. Click it.
  4. A message will show at the bottom of the DM inbox asking "Are you sure you want to delete this message?" Click Delete message.
  5. Please note: Deleted DMs disappear from both the sender and the recipient's history. If you are missing DMs, check with the person you messaged to verify that they deleted the DMs you are missing.

To send and receive direct messages from your phone and apps:

In addition to sending direct messages from the web, you can also send direct messages from:

A note about DM fails: Your service provider may split SMS messages greater than 160 characters into multiple messages. In this case, the second message will post as a normal Tweet because it doesn't begin with d username, as the first message did. Please be careful to ensure that your messages are under 160 characters, including the d command and username.

To receive direct messages on your phone via SMS:

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

If you are receiving direct messages from yourself:

Please take the following actions:

  1. While signed in, visit your Apps tab in settings. Revoke access for any third party application that you don't recognize.
  2. If you're still experiencing this problem after you've revoked unwanted applications, or if you weren't expecting this behavior when you approved this connection, please contact us.

If you are not seeing all of your direct messages:

  • Twitter shows only your 100 most recent messages (sent AND received). 
  • Remember, your old DMs are not gone, they're just stored in our database. We're working to make more DMs available in the future.

Having trouble?

Check out our Tweet & DM Troubleshooting section for solutions to commons problems.

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