Deleting Direct Messages from Twitter

by Peter

A very quick post on the subject of Twitter again.

If you are plagued by a DM box overflowing with useless auto DMs from folk who can’t grasp how to use Twitter effectively, here are a couple of options for you to consider.

DMWhacker and SocialOomph (formally Tweetlater)

Both tools will rid your DM box of all incoming or outgoing messages with DMWhacker offering a few more options to discriminate which DMs it gets rid of.

DMWhacker will delete the little blighters in a flash (well, a few seconds anyway) It just sits on your bookmark bar and is there whenever you need it.

Go here:  The DM Whacker site

There’s full instructions there but they’re very simple to follow, look:

Drag the bookmarklet: ‘DM Whacker’ onto your bookmark bar and navigate to your DM page. Click the new bookmark and a menu appears in the Twitter sidebar. Choose your options and zap them! Careful though, there’s no recycle bin, once they’re gone, they’re gone!

SocialOomph requires that you sign up for an account (just the free version will do for deleting all of your DMs)  Once logged in you can do a host of things regarding DMs. As this is the tool that most people use to send automated DMs (they’re not ALWAYS useless, the auto DM function can be VERY useful) you can also opt out of receiving auto DMs that are sent from SocialOomph if you wish.

However, we’re just dealing with deleting the things.  You’ll need to go to the DM menu and choose ‘Purge DMs’.  Select your account and time frame and click ‘Purge’.  It takes a bit longer than DMWhacker but it is just as permanent – once deleted there’s no going back.

Go here for SocialOomph

If I was to choose one, for the basic job of deleting ALL of my Twitter direct messages, it would have to be DMWhacker – it’s quick, integrates easily with the Twitter web interface and it doesn’t ask for your Twitter login credentials.

Enjoy your clutter-free DM box.

Peter

EDIT: Did you know that when you delete a DM that’s been sent to you that it’s also removed from the senders inbox too.  Similarly, deleting your sent items will remove them from your recipients’ inboxes. Weird huh, and it explains the curious mystery of the disappearing DMs!

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Janet Thaeler August 14, 2009 at 3:42 pm

Peter – Thanks this is just the information I needed (and got after asking on Twitter). Maybe you could also post on effective auto DMs. I turned mine off after experimenting with them and finding them annoying. People act sincere (let me know how I can help you out) but most don’t really mean it.
Of course when you meet someone you don’t want the first thing they say to you to be a sales pitch! But in certain industries or with some newbies, it’s the norm in their DMs.
-Janet
@newspapergrl

David Rivkin September 13, 2009 at 5:27 am

Most helpful! Thank you!

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