Twitter Guide For Authors & Illustrators > The Basics > What's a DM?
Index of topics: Main Twitter Guide For Writers & Illustrators page. To go back to my blog for kidlit/YA writers and illustrators, see Inkygirl. You can find me on Twitter at @inkyelbows (focus: writing and illustrating children's books) and @DebbieOhi (livetweets, chat, photos, personal ramblings). Also see my list of Other Useful Twitter Guides For Authors And Illustrators and Twitter Lists of: agents who represent kidlit/YA, kidlit/YA editors, children's book art/creative directors and K-12/teen librarians on Twitter.
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Q. What is a DM?
A DM is a direct message sent from one Twitter account to another. It's not posted publicly.
Note that you can only send a DM to someone if they're following you, and that THEY can only send a DM to you if you're following them.
Too often (and I've made this mistake as well) I've seen people tweet to someone, "I can send you more info if you DM me your e-mail address" but only to have the other person post, "Um...I tried but I can't because you're not following me." Embarrassing for both parties.
Do NOT count on DM as a reliable way of communicating with people. Because of auto-DMs (I hate auto-DMs with an undying passion), many people ignore their DM inboxes. I check mine every so often, but mainly to mass-delete DMs because I get so many auto-DMs. Have I mentioned how much I hate auto-DMs? I'm sure sometimes real DMs get accidentally deleted as well, but I don't always have the time to open and check each one.
Last updated on February 26, 2014 by Debbie Ridpath Ohi