According to a report in Recode, multiple sources who know of Twitter’s plans have provided information saying that longer tweets are coming to Twitter by the end of Q1 2016.
Get ready to see tweets as long as 10,000 characters, sources say, as Twitter is planning to adopt the same character limit currently in place for direct messages.
Between now and when the character limit is officially increased, we may see the character limit fluctuate somewhere from 140 and “beyond 140” characters.
If the way it’s being described is accurate, the additional characters should add no additional clutter to your timeline. Up to 140 characters of a tweet will be displayed in the timeline, like usual. If tweet exceeds 140 characters there will be a call to action to read more.
In addition, sources say the company is already thinking about ways to combat the spamming issues that are likely to come about as a result of longer tweets. Measures may be taken to limit the amount of other users that can be mentioned in tweets, for example.
Public Reception So Far…
It is in Twitter’s best interest to make this change blend in with the experience we’ve all become used to — but even with that being the case the reception has been nothing but negative.
Doing a simple Twitter search for “twitter limit” will give you a glimpse into what the consensus is on the subject thus far. Here are just a few of my favorites I pulled at random:
If Twitter really raises the character limit to 10,000 characters I'm going back to MySpace..
— Rico (@enriquen_21) January 5, 2016
Twitter: What do our users want? Users: An edit button and relief from spam/abuse. Twitter: Novella-length Tweets it is!
— Derrick Snyder (@Derrick_Snyder) January 5, 2016
Likes instead of favorites, 10,000 character limit, soon Twitter is going to be Facebook with a bird logo smh
— Arsh☬ (@igodeep96) January 5, 2016
That 140 limit is a defining characteristics of twitter. Take that away and well…you might as well be facebook.
— J-Rap (@Mr_ImmaculateX) January 5, 2016
My entire Twitter feed is now people speculating about Twitter increasing character limit to 10k. If true, the magic will be instantly gone!
— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) January 5, 2016
I tried to collect some opinions from what looked to be ordinary, ever day Twitter users. Attracting new users needs to be one of the company’s top priorities after reporting disappointing user growth at its last earnings call.
If the average user is starting to draw comparisons between Twitter and Facebook, what is unique enough about the social network to draw in new users?
Since its inception, Twitter was defined by its 140 character limit. If nothing else — it shows that the company, under CEO Jack Dorsey’s lead, is willing try just about anything to jumpstart user growth.
Featured Image Credit: Denys Prykhodov / Shutterstock.com
