Twitter may be looking to revitalise its marginalised direct messaging feature by launching it as a free-standing app, according to reports on Thursday.
The social network may be looking to get in on the action "in the near future" following the explosion of popular messaging applications such as Snapchat and WhatsApp, among others.
Twitter may see an opportunity to entice more users within its ecosystem, while maintaining those who may be using the service less to take their conversations to a less public forum.
It has been quietly modifying its long-neglected DM service in the last few weeks, by trailing and now beginning to roll out the option for users to receive inbox messages from those they aren't following.
Just last week, Twitter also launched the Event Parrot account, which sends followers notifications about the biggest breaking news events.
If Twitter does launch the new DM feature, it'd likely be around the time of its impending IPO, which will see the social network float on the stock market.
It is also plotting a redesign to its homepage to improve the number of monthly active users, according to the AllThingsD report.
The company has not commented so far, but we'll bring you any word if and when Twitter decides to get deeper into the IM game.
