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Twitter Tests Doubling Character Limit For Tweets To 280 (theverge.com)
Twitter announced today that it has started testing 280-character tweets for select users. The new limit doubles the current 140-character limit, and is said to help users be more expressive. The Verge reports: "Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people tweeting in English," the company said in a blog post. "When people don't have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people Tweeting -- which is awesome!"
About 9 percent of all tweets today are exactly 140 characters, Twitter says. It's tough to do that on accident, suggesting that users frequently have to edit their initial thoughts to get them under the limit. (It's certainly true for me.) Now Twitter hopes to ease that burden by doubling the character limit in what it calls "languages impacted by cramming," which includes every language except for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The report goes on to note that the "140-character limit was originally established to reflect the length of SMS messages, which was how tweets were distributed prior to the development of mobile apps. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters; Twitter reserved the remaining 20 for the username," reports The Verge.
About 9 percent of all tweets today are exactly 140 characters, Twitter says. It's tough to do that on accident, suggesting that users frequently have to edit their initial thoughts to get them under the limit. (It's certainly true for me.) Now Twitter hopes to ease that burden by doubling the character limit in what it calls "languages impacted by cramming," which includes every language except for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The report goes on to note that the "140-character limit was originally established to reflect the length of SMS messages, which was how tweets were distributed prior to the development of mobile apps. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters; Twitter reserved the remaining 20 for the username," reports The Verge.
240 characters is more than anybody needs brag about their kids, pets, vacations, food, and/or political views.
Did I miss anything that people actually post about?
Like, wow, man, totally radical!
Take an arbitrary limit, and change it to a different, arbitrary limit. But only for "select" users. Wow.
The point of the limit, and Twitter's only USP, is that messages have to be short. The original limit was based on text-messaging (SMS), of course, but that hasn't been relevant for a long time. They could drop the limit entirely - and just become a rather strange blogging platform.
Twitter has other problems. In particular, their tendency to political censorship has already pissed off everyone who doesn't subscribe to the progressive world view. However, having started down that road, reversing course would piss off the progressives. On top of all of that, their corporate expenses are just nuts - they don't need (and cannot pay) thousands of employees, to run a simple messaging platform.
Changing the tweet length really is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Of course, your target better be a conservative, otherwise you get banned.
That's funny. When Twitter was first launched, I read that the 140 character limit was defined by SMS Text messages for mobile phones.
Whatever the reason, I've never been able to figure out the attraction of Twitter. I opened an account, followed some people, and every time I check, it just looks like a random mess of information. I can't remember the last time I actually found something useful on Twitter. What am I doing wrong? How do others make Twitter useful?
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
As already indicated, the 140 character limit was likely tied to the attention span of the typical twitter user. With Don Don the orange orangutan (POTUS why does they look like a swear word) as the star twitter user, it seems they should likely cut back from 140, rather than double it, with Don Don as the star twitter user, it's a wonder people have not yet realised they should be ashamed to use it, look who you twit like.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I can't remember the last time I actually found something useful on Twitter. What am I doing wrong? How do others make Twitter useful?
1) You won't find anything useful on Twitter. It's the confetti of the internet.
2) You're not doing anything wrong.
3) They don't.
Dump your account and you won't miss a thing.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...