Everyone’s favourite Big Blue Social Bird may finally be giving users the chance to speak their mind with a little less digital restriction, following tests of a longer character limit carried out last week.Â
Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has always carried a 140-character limit to Tweets, but in an announcement last week, the networking giant stated that it is exploring the option of a 280-character tweet, testing it out in every language except Japanese, Chinese and Korean (languages in which it is easier to express more info in fewer characters).
“This is a small change, but a big move for us,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in a (140-character) tweet. “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!”
So, how was this news received by the online masses? Not too well, as it happens. The below reaction sums a lot of the sentiment up…
Twitter going to 140 characters feels like when we went from 14.4k modems to 28.8k. The speed! pic.twitter.com/VcJK4733l6
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) September 26, 2017
While it’s still far from certain this new change will be implemented, those of you with a lot to say where brevity isn’t your strong point, will no doubt welcome the new-found literary freedom with open arms….