Twitter Commerce Director Eckart Walther suggested having a standalone messaging app to CEO Jack Dorsey a few weeks ago. Walther advised Dorsey to spin out Twitter’s direct messaging feature, but the idea does not seem to be turning into reality anytime soon, says Re/code.
Could help Twitter push up user growth
Citing multiple people familiar with the pitch, the report informs readers that Walther’s argument was that the company’s ailing user growth could improve with the introduction of such an app as it will be capable of luring people who dislike the public nature of the micro-blogging site. Eventually, they all will come onto Twitter’s main service down the road.
What’s more important is that a standalone messaging app could give a vehicle for the micro-blogging firm to drive its new customer service initiatives, an idea Twitter first talked about during its developer conference in October. The company believes it will help encourage users and brands to interact more on the platform.
Twitter is already a good place for such interactions because of its public nature. If the company comes up with a standalone messaging app, then it will be easier for it to build tools for a company’s use.
Not the first time
Citing unnamed sources, the report says the idea of having a separate messaging app has been pitched many times before, however, people do not believe that this latest pitch will lead to a different result. Right before the holidays, a group of business employees even suggested that the company introduce a standalone customer service app called “Serve,” which would be specifically used for talking to businesses, but it never materialized, the report says.
In late 2014, rival Facebook split Messenger off the main app, after which it built features into it. The Messenger app quickly scooped up partners such as Uber, Lyft and an airline as well. Meanwhile, Twitter DMs have always offered developers a less appealing and less popular option.
As of now, there have been no comments from Twitter about the Re/code report, but the fact that this idea was suggested points toward two important things. Firstly, Twitter’s desperate search for ways to add more users to its platform is still on. Secondly, Twitter is still playing catch-up with private messaging, an area the company is clearly thinking about.
