Twitter recently introduced a number of adjustments, particularly expanding its 140-character limit. The new Twitter character limit will no longer count several elements, thereby allowing users more space to share their thoughts.
The Twitter character limit allows up to 140 characters. However, usernames, images, quoted tweets and other media attachments will be excluded in the count. The change will be implemented in the next few months. The new Twitter character limit will give users more opportunities to make statements, without the need for constant editing to fit all the words accordingly.
The Verge noted that Twitter's core users have long been requesting for various changes, which will ultimately give more leeway for new users as well as simplify the micro-messaging service. The revised Twitter character limit is one of the many steps that the company has used in the past six months to add to the convenience of its core product.
CEO Jack Dorsey said that generally, they wanted to ensure that they encourage more conversations on Twitter. The new Twitter character limit is the most notable change that they introduced recently that focuses on conversation. Dorsey continued that including usernames in the Twitter character limit before was a hindrance to conversations since adding people to a tweet would lower the total available characters for effective discussion. They are providing users with the full expressiveness of the 140 characters and expect users to have more dialogs because of the adjustment.
Dorsey returned to Twitter as CEO in June 2016, and the company has since been featuring new updates, the new Twitter character limit and other adjustments to improve its core product.
Another change in the Twitter character limit delves on visibility. Before, tweets that started with usernames were only visible to users who followed both the tweeting user and the mentioned user. Dorsey said that they decided to remove it to avoid confusion among service users. Other adjustments include changing "favorites" with "likes," arranging tweets in the timeline based on quality instead of the time these were posted and Moments, a tab of highlights on the platform.
According to Slate, the Twitter character limit will be introduced together with the other adjustments to the service. Developers will use the Twitter API for some time to update their apps. There is no definite date yet when the new Twitter character limit will become available, but it is expected to arrive sometime in 2016.
More updates and details on the Twitter character limit are expected soon.