New York: Micro-blogging website Twitter is testing a new feature for brands that puts its "Messaging" button front-and-centre, thereby encouraging customers to start their conversations with the business via DM (direct message) instead of in public view, a media report said.

A number of businesses use Twitter to interact with their customers and offer support.

But that often means responding to angry tweets directed at their account, then switching users over to private messaging to deal with the issues at hand, technology website Techcrunch.com reported.

Now, Twitter has made a slight change to the way profiles are displayed on mobile to encourage users to use direct messages rather than public tweets.

The new button appears on mobile and takes over the full space where the "Tweet to" and "Message" buttons used to live side-by-side.

With the new feature enabled it will be easier for users to start a private conversation with the brand in question, as their attention is directed to the bigger button, as opposed to the "create a tweet" interface, the report noted.

This new feature will help businesses take charge of their customer conversations.

Some accounts that already have this feature enabled on mobile include @AppleSupport, @Uber_Support, @BeatsSupport, @ATVIAssist (Activision Support), among others, the report added.