Twitter Doubles Tweet Limit To 280 Characters

Twitter announced Tuesday that it is doubling the limit for tweets to 280 characters, giving users twice the space to express themselves.

The move according to the micro blogging website is to draw in more users and boost engagement at the social network.

Advertisement

The company started testing the new feature in most languages in early September.

“We’re expanding the character limit! We want it to be easier and faster for everyone to express themselves,” Twitter said.

The changes will be rolling out in all languages except Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, in which space limitations have not been an issue, Twitter said.

It is the first time the tweet character cap has been raised since Twitter was founded 11 years ago.

Advertisement

Product manager Aliza Rosen said in a blog post that the test showed most people still used 140 characters or fewer, suggesting the fast-moving nature of Twitter will not change.

“Our goal was to make this possible while ensuring we keep the speed and brevity that makes Twitter, Twitter,” Rosen said. “We’re excited to share we’ve achieved this goal and are rolling the change out to all languages where cramming was an issue.”

Rosen noted that in the first few days of the test many people used the full 280-limit because it was new and novel, “but soon after behavior normalized.”

As a result, “the brevity of Twitter remained,” she added.

Leave a comment

Advertisement