Twitter considers 10,000-character limit
January 5, 2016
The days of short 140-character tweets may soon be over, according to a report from the technology news website Re/code on Tuesday. Twitter is reportedly building a new feature which would allow users of the popular microblogging platform to post tweets as long as 10,000 characters.
Twitter has not yet set an exact date for the release of the new feature, but may change the character limit before the final product is finished, Re/code said, citing sources who are familiar with Twitter's plans.
In an effort to not disrupt the look of its timeline, the company is currently testing a version of the feature which would display 140 characters but expands to display more text once the tweet is clicked on.
The 140-character limit, which forced its users to deliver concise commentary, was originally due to software constraints. The technology is no longer a problem, since the company already offers 10,000 characters through its commercial Direct Messages product.
Twitter outrage
Following the news, users took to Twitter to voice their complaints about the possibility of new character limits using the hashtag #beyond140.
Bold business move
The new feature is part of Twitter's efforts to increase its advertising sales and users after a year of continued losses. In 2015, Twitter experienced its slowest user growth - the site now has over 300 million users - and was overshadowed by the photo-sharing app Instagram, which has over 400 million users.
In October, the company reported a third-quarter loss of $132 million (123 million euros) and brought back its co-founder Jack Dorsey to revamp the company.
Under Dorsey, Twitter introduced its "Moments" feature, added polls, replaced its star-shaped "favorite" icon with a heart-shaped "like" button and added a buy button.
Twitter has yet to comment on the article.
rs/rc (AFP, Reuters)