Twitter opens Direct Messages for Automated Experiences

Earlier this month, Twitter opened up access to Direct Message (DM) APIs to enable brands and businesses to engage with their audience with rich and engaging experiences. These interactions will be powered by chatbots and can be used for customer service, marketing, subscriptions and other engagement programs.

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world with over 300M monthly active users. It is also a platform that brands across the world use to solve customer queries, push out content and give real-time updates. Thus it’s no surprise that Twitter is now leveraging the power of bots.

What’s New

Here’s what’s new with the Twitter API:

• A new DM POST endpoint for sending Direct Messages that supports quick replies
  
• Updated DM GET endpoints for retrieving data asynchronously via the REST API
  
• Ability to create and manage welcome messages in Direct Messages
  
• An Account Activity API (beta) to subscribe to real-time activities.

This means that you now have the option of including quick reply buttons in your Direct Messages. These quick replies can trigger messages that will show in your DM window. Check out the examples below:

Send a Direct Message to @PizzaHut to order some pizza or get the daily news from @TheEconomist

As you can see in the first image, a quick reply triggers a signup form after which you can place an order for pizza. In the second image, @TheEconomist gives you options to subscribe to daily stories or customize topics that you want to read. The account then pushes content directly your Direct Message inbox.

You can also check out @Furni which is Twitter’s official business account which showcases some of the other features of Twitter’s automated experiences.

There are many creative ways to use Twitter’s quick replies. Send a DM to @SpiderMan to experience an interactive story about Marvel Comic’s latest storyline.