Configure a Twitter Direct Message channel

Omnichannel for Customer Service offers a suite of capabilities that extend the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise to enable organizations to instantly connect and engage with their customers across digital messaging channels. An additional license is required to access Omnichannel for Customer Service. For more information, see the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing overview and Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing plan pages.

Many customers use social messaging channels like Twitter Direct Message for their personal communication needs. Many also prefer using these messaging channels to engage with businesses. The asynchronous nature of these channels gives customers the convenience of getting their issues resolved as and when they find time, unlike real-time channels like Chat for Dynamics 365, where the session ends when the chat window is closed.

The Twitter channel gives you an incredible opportunity to capitalize on the social media trend and engage with your customers in a seamless and personalized experience.

Prerequisites

The following are important prerequisites that you must complete before configuring the Twitter channel in Omnichannel for Customer Service.

Note

To enable the Twitter channel in an existing Omnichannel for Customer Service environment, you must upgrade to the latest version of Omnichannel for Customer Service.

• Create a Twitter handle. More information: Create and Manage a Twitter business profile
• Enable Direct Message for your Twitter handle. More information: Enable Direct Message
• Create a Twitter application. Apply for a developer account, not a team account. Create a Twitter developer environment. More information: App Development
• Update the Twitter application permissions to read, write, and access Direct Messages. More information: App permissions
• Verify that you have permissions on the secure columns. More information: Configure permissions to access secure columns

Create a Twitter channel and add a Twitter handle

To create a Twitter channel

1. In Dynamics 365, go to one of the apps, and perform the following steps.

   Customer Service admin center

   1. In the site map, in Customer support, select Channels.

   2. In Accounts, for Messaging accounts, select Manage.

   Omnichannel admin center

   • In the site map, in General settings, select Channels.

2. On the Accounts and channels page, select New account.

3. Enter the following details:

   1. On the Channel details page, enter a name and select Twitter.

   2. On the Account details page, enter the following details:

      • Consumer API key: Key of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Twitter app dashboard > Details > Keys and tokens, and then copy the value in the API key field.
      • Consumer API secret: Application secret of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Twitter app dashboard > Details > Keys and tokens, and then copy the value in the API secret key field.
      • Environment name: Environment of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Dev environments > Dev environment label (make sure that the development environment was created under Account Activity API).

      Important

      The Environment name field cannot be a random string and must match the Dev environment label in the Twitter developer portal.

   3. On the Callback information page, copy the text in the Callback URL box. You'll use the copied information in the Twitter account.

   4. Select Done.

4. To configure routing and work distribution, you can create a workstream or select an existing one.

5. Select the workstream that you've created for the Twitter channel and on the workstream page, select Set up Twitter, and configure the following options:

   1. On the Twitter handle page, select a handle from Available Twitter handles.

   2. On the Language page, select a language.

   3. On the Behaviors page, configure the following options:

      • Custom automated messages
      • Post-conversation survey

   4. On the User features page, set the toggle for File attachments to On and select the following checkboxes if you want to allow agents and customers to send and receive file attachments. More information: Enable file attachments.

      • Customers can send file attachments
      • Agents can send file attachments

   5. Verify the settings on the Summary page, and select Finish. The Twitter channel instance is configured.

6. Configure routing rules. More information: Configure work classification.

7. Configure work distribution. More information: Work distribution settings

8. Add a bot. More information: Configure a bot.

9. In Advanced settings, configure the following options based on your business needs:

   • Sessions
   • Agent notifications
   • Context variables
   • Smart assist bots
   • Quick replies

Create a Twitter channel and add a Twitter handle in Omnichannel Administration

Important

Support for the Omnichannel Administration app ended on April 30, 2022. We recommend that you use the Customer Service admin center app to configure the latest features, such as unified routing and voice channel. More information: Omnichannel Administration app is deprecated

Note

Before starting this procedure, you must meet the prerequisites described earlier in this topic.

1. Go to Channels > Twitter and select New to create a Twitter channel.

2. On the New Twitter Application page, provide the following account details:

   • Name: Name of the Twitter application.

   • Consumer API key: Key of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Twitter app dashboard > Details > Keys and tokens, and then copy the value in the API key field.

   • Consumer API Secret: Application secret of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Twitter app dashboard > Details > Keys and tokens, and then copy the value in the API secret key field.

   • Environment name: Environment of the Twitter application. Go to the Twitter developer portal > Dev environments > Dev environment label (make sure that the dev environment was created under Account Activity API).

     Important

     The Environment name field cannot be a random string and must match the Dev environment label in the Twitter developer portal.

   More information about the Twitter app: Setting up your Twitter app

3. Select Save. After you save the record, the Twitter channel is enabled. The Callback URL has been generated. The next step is to save it.

4. To save the Callback URL in the Twitter app dashboard of the developer portal, go to the Twitter developer portal > Twitter app dashboard > Details > App details > Edit. Copy the Callback URL from Omnichannel for Customer Service, and then paste it into the Callback URLs field.

5. Add a Twitter handle: In the Twitter app section, select New Twitter handle to add Twitter handles.

6. On the New Twitter handle page, in Name, enter a name that you can reference. It should not be the Twitter handle.

7. Select Sign on to Twitter. A pop-up window appears. Sign in by using the Twitter handle and password that will be added here.

   Note

   If you receive a message that says pop-up windows are blocked, select to always allow them.

8. On the General settings tab, provide the following information:

   • Language: Select the preferred language for your Facebook page.

   • Work Stream: Select the out-of-the-box work stream for the Twitter channel. To create a work stream, see Create work streams.

   • Enable file attachments for customers: Set to Yes to allow customers to send file attachments to agents. Otherwise, set No.

   • Enable file attachments for agents: Set to Yes to allow agents to send file attachments to customers. When the agent sends an attachment, the app uploads the attachment to Twitter and captures the media ID. Otherwise, set No.

     To learn more about attachments, see File attachments.

     To learn more about uploading media in Twitter, see Twitter developer documentation.

9. On the Automated messages tab, configure automated messages.

10. On the Surveys tab, configure a post-conversation survey.

11. Select Save to save the record. The Twitter channel setup is complete.

Note

You can add multiple handles to a Twitter Application channel.

Create routing rules in Omnichannel Administration

1. Go to Work Distribution Management > Work Streams.
2. Open the out-of-the-box work stream or the one you created.
3. On the Routing rules items tab, create a routing rule to transfer the message to an appropriate agent. Select the entity as Twitter Engagement Context. For example, you can create a rule to transfer Twitter chat from a customer named Twitter to the default queue.

When you create conditions for routing rules, the Twitter Engagement Context (Conversation) entity enables you to set the following attributes:

• Customer name
• Customer screen name
• Followers count
• Friends count

Customer and agent experiences

A customer can initiate a conversation in any of the following ways:

• Twitter app on a mobile device
• Twitter app on a desktop device
• www.twitter.com

If a customer initiates a conversation from the Twitter website and then later switches to the mobile device, the previous conversation persists and the customer can continue the conversation.

The agent receives the notification of the incoming chat request, along with customer details. More information: View notifications

Once the Twitter social profile is linked to an user customer/contact record by the agent, subsequent Twitter conversations are linked to the customer records and the customer summary is populated.

If the customer isn't identified by name, a new contact record can be created.

Privacy notice

By enabling this feature, your data will be shared with Twitter and flow outside of your organization's compliance and geo boundaries (even if your organization is in a Government Cloud environment). Please consult the feature technical documentation for more information here.

Customers are solely responsible for using Dynamics 365, this feature, and any associated feature or service in compliance with all applicable laws, such as laws relating to monitoring, recording, and storing communications with their end-users. This includes adequately notifying end-users that their communications with agents may be monitored, recorded, or stored and, as required by applicable laws, obtaining consent from end-users before using the feature with them. Customers are also encouraged to have a mechanism in place to inform their agents that their communications with end users may be monitored, recorded, or stored.

See also

Understand and create work streams
Configure automated messages
Configure a post-conversation survey
Create and manage routing rules
Delete a configured channel
Support for live chat and asynchronous channels