twitter expands character limitation

February 8, 2016

Twitter update – Expanding character limitation?

Once again, we see social media changing and evolving. The feature that made Twitter famous, their 140 character limit may be getting a substantial update in the upcoming months.   Some reports state that the text limitation will move from 140 characters up to 10,000, which is considered by many to be the biggest change to Twitter so far since its inception. When the reports first came out, many users were not very happy about the possible change. Thereafter, Twitter officials clarified that the text that is displayed will still be limited to 140 characters, however an option to click to expand text will be added to allow for the additional text to appear on the twit. Some of the obvious benefits from this change include: First, longer tweets will be easier to read because they won’t have to be spread out over multiple messages. Next, they will be easier to find and search since the text will be text rather than images. The more text that Twitter has access to, the more accurate your message and ad targeting can be. Additional text may help with Search engine optimization For most companies and marketers who use twitter ads, this is likely going to be a very good change. There is not yet any set date for when this update will be rolled out. For additional information about Social Media Marketing and communications, please visit our website: www.XperienceMarketingSolutions.com
November 16, 2017

Twitter officially enables 280-character limit for all accounts

Less than two months after testing extending tweets’ maximum length to 280 characters, Twitter is enabling the new length for all users on Tuesday. The new maximum will apply to tweets in all languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean, in which space is less of an issue. The company said 140 characters don’t give users enough space for folks to express themselves. In a blog post, Twitter shared some of its product research regarding the 140-character limit. “In languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese you can convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages, like English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French. … We see that a small percent of Tweets sent in Japanese have 140 characters (only 0.4%). But in English, a much higher percentage of Tweets have 140 characters (9%). … Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English, but it is not for those Tweeting in Japanese.” The company said it spent time collecting data and feedback from its test group before making the change. With the change, Twitter has seen that people run into fewer instances when they are forced to edit their tweets for length. Under the 140-character limit, 9 percent of English-written tweets hit the cap. However, under the 280-character limit, that number dropped to 1 percent, according to Twitter. References Peterson, T. (2017, November 7). Twitter officially enables 280-character limit for all accounts, including brands. Retrieved […]