
If social media whisperings and rumours are to be believed, Twitter is in the process of working on a new product that potentially would not be restricted by the current 140 character limit.
Although currently it is unknown how this change would be introduced or what it could look like, the possibility of introducing a long content tweet function has been referred to on some social media blogging sites.
Since the launch of the company in 2006, the 140 character feature has been intrinsically linked to the brand. Since its launch the restriction has come under some scrutiny from outsiders and has recently come to the fore again under interim CEO and founder Jack Dorsey.
The last 12 months have already seen a number of changes introduced to users, which have enabled them to go beyond the 140 characters. The “Quote a Tweet” option that had been available on some mobile devices but still required the total tweet to be no more than 140 characters, has now been replaced by the “Retweet with Comment” function allowing additional characters to be added. Very recently the “Direct Messaging” function was expanded allowing up to 1000 characters.
As other social media platforms appear to be eclipsing Twitter follower numbers, the pressure is on to make the platform more accessible to a broader spectrum of users. However is the removing of the character limit the way forward?
A possible tweak rather than wholesale removal of restriction could see links and usernames not included in the character count, but who knows?
At the moment no one is clear as to what the future may or may not hold for the format of Twitter and some of these suggested possibilities may get dismissed along the way. Ultimately evolving constantly is a key requirement for businesses growth and survival in an ever changing highly competitive market; but possibly tweaking the character limit which is so strongly identified with the brand would be preferably to removing it altogether?
Although currently it is unknown how this change would be introduced or what it could look like, the possibility of introducing a long content tweet function has been referred to on some social media blogging sites.
Since the launch of the company in 2006, the 140 character feature has been intrinsically linked to the brand. Since its launch the restriction has come under some scrutiny from outsiders and has recently come to the fore again under interim CEO and founder Jack Dorsey.
The last 12 months have already seen a number of changes introduced to users, which have enabled them to go beyond the 140 characters. The “Quote a Tweet” option that had been available on some mobile devices but still required the total tweet to be no more than 140 characters, has now been replaced by the “Retweet with Comment” function allowing additional characters to be added. Very recently the “Direct Messaging” function was expanded allowing up to 1000 characters.
As other social media platforms appear to be eclipsing Twitter follower numbers, the pressure is on to make the platform more accessible to a broader spectrum of users. However is the removing of the character limit the way forward?
A possible tweak rather than wholesale removal of restriction could see links and usernames not included in the character count, but who knows?
At the moment no one is clear as to what the future may or may not hold for the format of Twitter and some of these suggested possibilities may get dismissed along the way. Ultimately evolving constantly is a key requirement for businesses growth and survival in an ever changing highly competitive market; but possibly tweaking the character limit which is so strongly identified with the brand would be preferably to removing it altogether?