Twitter updated its most underrated feature to make it look more like Facebook

Twitter is revamping its direct messaging feature with a slew of new features, the company announced Thursday in a tweet.  

The social media service is adding read receipts, typing indicators and web link previews to their direct messaging features. 

The changes could help make Twitter's messaging features a more important part of its service, which has been struggling to grow its audience and keep up with competitors.

If the messages in the video look familiar to you, it's probably because the new features are similar to what Facebook offers in its messaging app. Facebook's Messenger app is known for its web link previews, typing indicators and, perhaps most notably, read receipts - the special indicators which let you know who has seen your message and which unlike in Apple's iMessage tool, you can't turn off. 

Twitter has not announced plans to launch an entirely different app for direct messaging, as Facebook did when it separated Messenger from its main social networking app.