Social media experts in Poole welcome a Twitter policy change which allows anyone to send you a direct message, even if you are not following them.
Before, if someone wanted to message you privately they would first have to get you to follow them.
Alice Rook is in charge of social media at Liz Lean PR in Sandbanks. She says you still have some control: “it’s not like everyone who has Twitter will be bombarded if they don’t want to be. You can opt-in or opt-out in your settings.”
Twitter engineer Nhu Voung has taken to their official blog to explain: “We hope these changes help you connect more easily… on Twitter with the people, causes and businesses you care about most. If you do receive a direct message from someone you don’t want to privately converse with, you can still take steps to stop them.”
On Poole’s high street views were mixed. Zoe Marlow, 41 from Branksome felt it was a bit creepy: “It’s alright to a point, but I would want to know them beforehand, in case I start getting weird texts; and then what do you do?” Richard Craig, 54 from Poole was less concerned: “It’s the same as everything, it’s up to you, right? I don’t use Twitter and I don’t need it.”
