Twitter is rolling out an option to ease the use of direct messages. Traditionally, Twitter has allowed users who follow each other to send direct messages back and forth, or for users to send direct messages to accounts that follow them. A new setting, that appears to have been rolling out over the past week, allows Twitter users to receive direct messages from any follower. "If you check this option, any Twitter user that follows you will be able to send you a DM, regardless of whether you decide to follow them back," says a note before the option is turned on.

While the new option is fairly minor, it’s likely designed to allow brands and businesses to receive private messages from their followers. Twitter has partnered with a number of TV networks this year in an attempt to promote its social networking service. Twitter has also been focused on improving its direct messages feature recently. Earlier this year it rolled out iOS, Mac, and Android updates to sync the status of direct messages. Twitter has also been experimenting with breaking news through direct messages and alerts to followers about popular users and their tweets. The new direct messages option can be enabled from the main settings page at Twitter.com. It appears to be rolling out to accounts at the moment so it might not be available to every user just yet.