Twitter’s entire premise is based on publicness. “Join the conversation in the global town square!” the company likes to say. But, over the past year, Twitter has come around to seeing the value of being more discreet. The company plans to significantly update its direct-messaging product in the near future, according to multiple sources, bringing the long-buried feature to the forefront for the first time in years. Part of the new reemphasis on direct messaging is already here. For weeks, Twitter has been internally testing a setting that allows users to send and receive direct messages from others without needing to mutually follow one another. And, earlier this week, the company began to roll it out to the public in a limited capacity. But Twitter’s new vision for direct messages will go further.