Twitter has made a huge change for the first time in eleven years. The company has just increased the character count of tweets from 140 to 280 characters. This is the first time the company is doing so since it debuted its services back in 2006.
Twitter says that the change is rolling out to a small group of users but it plans to expand it to everyone very soon. I already have it on my end and almost everyone I know does too. You should have it on your end by now as it started rolling out earlier today, if you don’t give it a day or two to get to you.
Through its blogpost, Twitter explained that most users frequently run into the 140 character limit. This was especially so with English speaking users who end up splitting their thoughts into two or even more tweets chained together into a thread. The company said, “Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English. Also, in all markets, when people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people Tweeting – which is awesome!”
Negative Reception
From what I have seen so far, not many people are happy with the increase of character count to 280. Many people feel that this will be too much for the micro blogging site but I don’t see this as a valid point. Yes, 280 characters is more than what we are used to on Twitter but I am sure people will get used to it. Those who have more to share will be open to do so in one tweet and those who don’t are under no obligation to use all characters. If your tweet only has 100 characters, go ahead and post it, no one will complain.
No Edit Button
When Twitter announced the increase in character count, some people were quick to point out that there should also be an edit button. I personally don’t think this should exist just because it is an option available on Facebook and Instagram. I think people should live with their typos and mistakes and delete their tweets if they do not want to, it isn’t that hard.
Also Read: Twitter Is Working On A Lite Version Of Its Android App For Those With Slow Data Speeds
