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Private message

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In computer networking, a private message, personal message, or direct message (abbreviated as PM or DM) refers to a private communication, often text-based, sent or received by a user of a private communication channel on any given platform. Unlike public posts, PMs are only viewable by the participants. Long a function present on <a href="IRC" title="IRC">IRCs</a><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> and <a href="Internet_forums" class="mw-redirect" title="Internet forums">Internet forums</a>,<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> private channels for PMs have also been prevalent features on <a href="Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">instant messaging</a> (IM) and on <a href="Social_media" title="Social media">social media</a> networks.<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a> It may be either <a href="Synchronous_computer-mediated_communication" class="mw-redirect" title="Synchronous computer-mediated communication">synchronous</a> (e.g. on an IM) or <a href="Asynchronous_computer-mediated_communication" title="Asynchronous computer-mediated communication">asynchronous</a> (e.g. on an Internet forum).

The term private message (PM) originated as a feature on internet forums, while the term direct message (DM) originated as a feature on <a href="Twitter" title="Twitter">Twitter</a>. Due to the popularity of the latter service, DM has since been appropriated by other platforms, such as <a href="Instagram" title="Instagram">Instagram</a>, and is often <a href="Generic_trademark" title="Generic trademark">genericized</a> in popular usage.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a><a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Overview">Overview</h2></div>

There are two main types of private messages:

<ul><li>One type includes those found on IRCs<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a> and Internet forums,<a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> as well as on social media services like <a href="Twitter" title="Twitter">Twitter</a>, Facebook, and <a href="Instagram" title="Instagram">Instagram</a>, where the focus is public posting, PMs allow users to communicate privately without leaving the platform.</li>

<li>The second type are those relayed through <a href="Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">instant messaging</a> platforms such as <a href="WhatsApp" title="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</a> and <a href="Snapchat" title="Snapchat">Snapchat</a>, where users join the networks primarily to exchange PMs.<a href="#cite_note-:1-8">[8]</a></li>

<li>A third type, peer-to-peer messaging, occurs when users create and own the infrastructure used to transmit and store the messages; while features vary depending on application, they give the user full control over the data they transmit. An example of software that enables this kind of messaging is Classified-ads.<a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a></li></ul>

Besides serving as a tool to connect privately with friends and family, PMs have gained momentum in the workplace. Working professionals use PMs to reach coworkers in other spaces and increase <a href="Efficiency" title="Efficiency">efficiency</a> during meetings. Although useful, using PMs in the workplace may blur the boundary between work and private lives.<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a><a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a><a href="#cite_note-:1-8">[8]</a><a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

Some common forms of private messaging today include <a href="Facebook" title="Facebook">Facebook</a> messaging (sometimes referred to as "inboxing"), <a href="Twitter" title="Twitter">Twitter</a> direct messaging, and Instagram direct messaging. These forms of private messaging provide a private space on a usually public site. For instance, most activity on Twitter is public, but Twitter DMs provide a private space for communication between two users. This differs from mediums like email, texting, and <a href="Snapchat" title="Snapchat">Snapchat</a>, where most or all activity is always private.<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a> Modern forms of private messaging may include multimedia messages, such as pictures or videos.<a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-16">[16]</a><a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="Email" title="Email">Email</a>, <a href="Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">Instant messaging</a>, and <a href="Text_messaging" title="Text messaging">Text messaging</a></div>

The development of <a href="Computers" class="mw-redirect" title="Computers">computers</a> sparked the <a href="Information_revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Information revolution">information revolution</a>, which changed the way people communicate. <a href="Peter_Drucker" title="Peter Drucker">Peter Drucker</a> published an article centering on the theme that the computer is to the Information Revolution what the <a href="Railroad" class="mw-redirect" title="Railroad">railroad</a> was to the <a href="Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a>; railroads unified travel between the east and west coast of the United States, whereas computers unified communication across the entire globe. This revolutionized many different forms of communication, but particularly the personal message.

The first <a href="Email" title="Email">email</a> system able to send mail between people using different host computers was launched via the <a href="ARPANET" title="ARPANET">ARPANET</a> in 1971, and it revolutionized personal messaging by enabling users to send electronic messages to distant recipients.<a href="#cite_note-18">[18]</a> The popularity of email has since skyrocketed, and it continues to be a widely used means of personal messaging. The advent of the <a href="Internet" title="Internet">Internet</a> paved the way for communication through platforms and website portals like <a href="Yahoo!" class="mw-redirect" title="Yahoo!">Yahoo!</a>, and <a href="AOL" title="AOL">AOL</a>. <a href="Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">Instant messaging</a> systems became popular in the late 1990s, and as Internet communication links improved and personal computers became more capable, this functionality was merged into systems that also included voice and video communication, such as <a href="Skype" title="Skype">Skype</a> (launched in 2003). In 2008, Facebook Chat launched, which evolved into <a href="Facebook_Messenger" class="mw-redirect" title="Facebook Messenger">Facebook Messenger</a> in 2011 and allows users to message each other via the <a href="Facebook" title="Facebook">Facebook</a> site. Twitter followed suit and introduced direct messages to their site in 2013. Today, private messaging is a staple of established social media platforms and more recently developed applications.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Privacy_concerns">Privacy concerns</h2></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="Digital_privacy" title="Digital privacy">Digital privacy</a>, <a href="Internet_privacy" title="Internet privacy">Internet privacy</a>, and <a href="Email_privacy" title="Email privacy">Email privacy</a></div>

In January 2014, Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley filed a <a href="Class-action_lawsuit" class="mw-redirect" title="Class-action lawsuit">class-action lawsuit</a> against Facebook for breaching the <a href="Electronic_Communications_Privacy_Act" title="Electronic Communications Privacy Act">Electronic Communications Privacy Act</a>. They alleged that private messages which contained URLs were being read and used to generate profit, through <a href="Data_mining" title="Data mining">data mining</a> and <a href="User_profiling" class="mw-redirect" title="User profiling">user profiling</a>, and that it was misleading for Facebook to refer to the functionality as "private" with the implication that the communication was "free from surveillance".<a href="#cite_note-19">[19]</a>

In 2012, some Facebook users misinterpreted a redesign of the Facebook wall as publicly sharing private messages from 2008–2009. These were found to be public wall posts from those years, made at a time when it was not possible to like or comment on a wall post, making the notes look like private messages.<a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFMarcoccia2004" class="citation journal cs1">Marcoccia, Michel (January 2004). "On-line polylogues: conversation structure and participation framework in internet newsgroups". Journal of Pragmatics. 36 (1): 115–145. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0378-2166%2803%2900038-9">10.1016/S0378-2166(03)00038-9</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMotoyamaMcCoyLevchenkoSavage2011" class="citation book cs1">Motoyama, Marti; McCoy, Damon; Levchenko, Kirill; Savage, Stefan; Voelker, Geoffrey M. (2 November 2011). "An analysis of underground forums". Proceedings of the 2011 ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement conference. pp. 71–80. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2068816.2068824">10.1145/2068816.2068824</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-4503-1013-0</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFVuorinenKoivulaKoiranen2020" class="citation book cs1">Vuorinen, Jukka; Koivula, Aki; Koiranen, Ilkka (2020). "The Confidence in Social Media Platforms and Private Messaging". Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 12194. pp. 669–682. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-49570-1_48">10.1007/978-3-030-49570-1_48</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-3-030-49569-5</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFWitman2021" class="citation web cs1">Witman, Emma (May 27, 2021). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/dm-meaning">"What does DM mean? Understanding the popular internet shorthand that refers to private messaging"</a>. <a href="Business_Insider" title="Business Insider">Business Insider</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221205155704/https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/dm-meaning">Archived</a> from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2025.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFStevensonLindberg2010" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/m_en_us1449319">"DM2"</a>. <a href="New_Oxford_American_Dictionary" title="New Oxford American Dictionary">New Oxford American Dictionary</a> (3rd ed.). <a href="Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-19-539288-3</bdi>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250404190139/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/m_en_us1449319">Archived</a> from the original on April 4, 2025. Retrieved April 4, 2025 – via <a href="Oxford_Reference" title="Oxford Reference">Oxford Reference</a>. <q><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r920966791">

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</style>Noun: a private message sent on social media, especially Twitter [...] Verb: send (someone) a private message on social media, especially Twitter [...] Origin early 21st century: abbreviation of direct message, from the Direct Message feature of the social media service Twitter.</q></cite>

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