Twitter Might Be Making Big Change To 140-Character Limit

JISC

It sounds like Twitter is making plans to stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages. 

According to an unnamed source – the decision is not official as yet – the change could happen in the next two weeks, reports Bloomberg.

The move comes as part of Twitter’s plan to give users more flexibility on the site – links currently take up 23 characters, even after they are automatically shortened.

The news seems to have gone down pretty well in general:

[tweet https://twitter.com/ranreichman/status/732347291361804288 conversation=”false”]

Back in January Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said the company was looking for new ways to display text on Twitter, and would experiment with some new ideas based on user information.

The 140-character limit was originally chosen because it meant the information would fit within a text message – the most common way for sending tweets back in 2006, before smartphones really took off.

The company had considered raising the limit as high as 10,000 characters, however focus has now shifted towards emphasising Twitter as a platform for live events and discussion.

Pixabay

It is thought executives hope removing the character requirement for links and photos will encourage users to add more media to their posts.

The move would be in line with Twitter’s plans to make video a priority as part of its push for live events.

The company has reportedly agreed to pay $10 million (£6.9 million) to the National Football League for the rights to stream ten games and is allegedly working on more content deals for streaming political events and entertainment.

If they could get some Premier League I’d be more than happy…

UNILAD