https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/19/16173092/twitter-dm-messaging-app

I know Twitter these days can feel like an endless litany of commentary on the actions (and omissions) of the US president and the whirlwind of social discord that swirls in his wake as chaotically as his signature hairstyle. And I’m fully aware that the internet already has a surplus of methods and applications for sending messages between people. But still, I keep faith with Twitter, and I do believe there’s room for it to expand its usefulness beyond the purposes it currently serves.

So why do I want yet another messaging app? The answer is the most essential thing to any messaging app: the contacts it contains. I reinstalled WhatsApp this week after previously deleting my account when it started feeding phone numbers into Facebook’s voracious data-collecting monster — but the thing I realized was that my best and most curated contact list exists on Twitter. WhatsApp consumed all of the work and personal contacts on my phone and served me with all the hundreds of people I’ve interacted with. When I look at my Twitter Direct Messages, I see only the people I want to converse with.