Since it’s launch, Twitter has always put a restriction on who can Direct Message (DM) whom (for example, you can DM me only if I follow you) But, starting today, this is about to change. Twitter has brought a new feature, that lets the users to receive DMs from any user, even from accounts that they do not follow.
This is an opt-in feature that you can enable in the Settings page of your Twitter account.
To enable this feature, check the box “Receive direct message from any follow”
It hasn’t been announced officially by Twitter yet. But many Twitter users have already noticed this new feature on their accounts. @JimConnolly was one of the first users to notice this.
This might be useful for brands to get people who post complaints to send them details in a more private manner. But I think that this might lead to a surge of spam messages landing on my inbox from unknown users. But, also, in such a case, I can always go back to the Settings page and disable it. Nevertheless, this option will definitely means more spam but also a lot of advertising.
Since Twitter has filed an IPO and will be under pressure to generate revenues we can expect more such intrusive features to pay for Twitter. Though I expect Twitter have some sort of filter to ensure DMs from people you followed can be looked up exclusively.