One of the most recognised features of Twitter is no more. Twitter has said goodbye to its 140-character limit, choosing to double it, meaning users now have 280 characters to play with when posting updates.
Twitter has said that they “want it to be easier and faster for everyone to express themselves. More characters. More expression. More of what’s happening”
It does lead us, and many others, to ask whether it will ruin the nature of twitter’s fast-moving site, making tweets less impactful and digestible. We fear that it has the potential of morphing Twitter into other popular social platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook that already provide an outlet for longer and more detailed posts. If the change removes a key feature that makes Twitter unique, could it go into decline?
However, we also must consider the benefits that 140 characters extra offers us. When promoting the change, Twitter has focused on the benefit of less time spent editing to ensure your tweet can fit within the character limited. They want their users to worry less about how to say what they want in limited characters, and share everything they want to. Extra characters allow extra information and detail for your followers, which for brands can be crucial and for everyone could well be favourable.
The new change will be rolled out around the world in the coming weeks and we are eagerly awaiting the outcome for Twitter.
What do you think about the changes? Are you for or against? We’d love to know.