Twitter has been the social media standard for brief posts with it’s longstanding 140 character limit, but that all changes today as the platform has announced it will expand to a new bigger 280 character limit for tweets. The company clarified the change today in blog post why this huge change is being done. “We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters – we felt it, too. But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint. We are excited to share this today, and we will keep you posted about what we see and what comes next.,” said the post. The move from 140 to 280 is not official just yet but is being tested with some users.
The response to it has been mixed with many divided on Twitter about the new character limit and how it may make the idea of tweeting less focused and concise. And because it’s Twitter it also garnered it’s fair share of jokes as well.
Yeah, because this site needs people talking MORE…#280characters
— Matt Drufke (@IHateMattDrufke) September 26, 2017
Twitter: Bigger is better baby!
People on Twitter: Uh … you sure?#280characters pic.twitter.com/T5NGMqkxWm— JustNotSports (@JustNotSports) September 26, 2017
In 2016, Twitter allowed users to post GIFs and photos in their tweets while it didn’t count towards their 140 character limit. This allowed for a lot more memes and playfulness on the platform. It’s certainly made it easier to send that silly eyeroll gif when needed.
