Twitter is launching a new feature for its business accounts, which shows employees’ photographs and names within Direct Messages.
Before, Direct Messages sent from business accounts would include the company’s Twitter profile picture and name.
However, the new update will enable the person sending the message to have their own custom profile, which includes a photograph of them and their name, rather than the company’s equivalent.
The feature hopes to better distinguish between people and bots, and offer a more personal customer experience on the platform.
Twitter’s Ian Cairns said in a blog post: “According to our research, personalised experiences with a human connection can create significant benefits for businesses.
“77% of people are likely to recommend a brand following a personalised customer service interaction on Twitter.
“Additionally, people are 19% more likely to feel like they’ve reached a resolution and 22% more likely to be satisfied compared to those who had impersonal interactions with a business on Twitter.”
The first company to use the new feature is T-Mobile, which according to Twitter has a “long history of innovating to create great customer experiences on Twitter”.
For example, last year the company included employee photos and names on Tweets by adding links to designated web pages, and previously used agents’ initials in Tweets.
Twitter’s new custom profiles in Direct Messages are available through the Direct Message API.
It should also be noted that the feature is only open to verified accounts.
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