For the last 11 years, Twitter’s defining attribute has been its 140-character limit. That may all be set to change as the social media platform announced on Tuesday it would be doubling its text limit to 280 characters. Or at least trying it out “with a small group of people before we make a decision to launch to everyone.”
“But, like…why?” was the general question among actual Twitter users.
Twitter’s reason was the stringent character limit was preventing more people from tweeting. “We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters – we felt it, too,” they wrote in a blog post. “But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint.”
This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu
— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017
Suffice it to say that many Tweeters have yet to do the same and more concerned with Twitter refusing to address what they perceive to be the larger issues at hand; Abusive trolls, Neo-Nazis, POTUS declaring war on North Korea via their social media service, etc.etc. You know, normal 2017 stuff.
1. It’s funny, because it’s sad:
TWITTER USERS: It would be nice if you stopped people making death threats.
TWITTER: OK, but what if those death threats could be LONGER?
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) September 26, 2017
2.
https://twitter.com/brianrbarone/status/912788388150960130
3.
everyone: “hey twitter, could you do something to stop trump from starting a war on here?”
twitter: “what if we gave him…longer tweets?”
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) September 26, 2017
4.
140 characters vs #280characters pic.twitter.com/AtxbuO5vXd
— Amanda Mancino-Williams (@Manda_like_wine) September 27, 2017
5.
OH HOLY SHIT. I figured out what we should do with the new 140 characters.
´•._.•´¯`•._.•´Forum Signatures Are Back Baby`•._.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´
— austin walker (@austin_walker) September 26, 2017
6.
Not to sound ungrateful or anything but I'd settle for just an edit button. #280characters
— 𝕮𝖑𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖊 𝕾𝖒𝖎𝖙𝖍 (@clairemsmith_) September 26, 2017
7.
280 characters? What is this *I try to think of something that has a lot of characters in it* … the alphabet???
— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) September 26, 2017
8.
Me: I wish Twitter would ban all these idiot Nazis.
Twitter: But how do you feel about VERBOSE Nazis?
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) September 27, 2017
9.
https://twitter.com/thetigersez/status/912904860617646080
10.
After spending the last 10 years training our brains to think in 140 characters #280characters pic.twitter.com/GVC6rfgzqa
— TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) September 26, 2017
11.
I’m so excited to be part of @Twitter’s #280characters rollout. Let me just say it’s an honor and a privilege. I’d like to thank my wonderf
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) September 27, 2017
12.
new twitter pic.twitter.com/cCs4OETTEv
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) September 26, 2017
13.
https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/912787813069934592
14.
Developing story: Haiku is testing a six-line, 10/14/10 verse form.
— Keith Phipps (@kphipps3000) September 26, 2017
15.
literally my only talent was being able to think of tweets exactly 140 characters long. i don't know if I will be able to alter this to 280.
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 26, 2017
16.
A good third option is, besides "140" or "280" characters, would be that none of us ever tweets again and we all read and talk to each other
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) September 26, 2017
17.
@TheSimpsons, @jk_rowling and @MarvelUK have already broken the 140 Chracter limit. #BreakTheMould pic.twitter.com/scE6jbnaxP
— M Drewery (@M_Drewery) September 27, 2017
WHERE’S THE EDIT BUTTON, TWITTER?