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For Twitter, its biggest feature and its greatest weakness are arguably the same thing – its 140-character restriction.
Now the site is looking to change all that by doubling that limit, and has already rolled out the new feature to a select group of users.
Can’t fit your Tweet into 140 characters? 🤔
We’re trying something new with a small group, and increasing the character limit to 280! Excited about the possibilities? Read our blog to find out how it all adds up. 👇https://t.co/C6hjsB9nbL
— Twitter (@Twitter) September 26, 2017
Of course, if there’s one thing Twitter users do well it’s reacting to news with wit and a raised eyebrow – or alternatively, repeatedly making the same joke.
I’m so excited to be part of @Twitter’s #280characters rollout. Let me just say it’s an honor and a privilege. I’d like to thank my wonderf
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) September 27, 2017
As enticing as it may sound, the notion of having #280characters will make tweets less interesting & succinct. Besides, who ever runs out of
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) September 27, 2017
Why does Twitter need to expand the tweet length to #280characters ?
If you can’t express your point in 140 characters you’re clearly a mor
— Danny (@DannyCalidonia) September 27, 2017
Twitter’s co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey was suddenly able to be more verbose than usual as he explained the change.
This is a small change, but a big move for us. 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! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu
— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017
But not everyone thought the extra words were necessary.
139 characters pic.twitter.com/WkfdXL8oLh
— Caitlin Kelly (@caitlin__kelly) September 26, 2017
Some people looked to TV and music to try and explain the change.
If there's one thing Lost taught us it's that you can't fix a broken, chaotic mess by doubling the amount of characters #280Characters
— Gav (@miracleofsound) September 26, 2017
140+140 =280. Now I know why twitter is introducing #280characters limit pic.twitter.com/kPmkZHIs8h
— Aakash (@PUNchayati) September 27, 2017
This is 280 characters exactly. COINCIDENCE???? pic.twitter.com/YkkDBgPhRw
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) September 26, 2017
Others, meanwhile, wondered what the change might mean for one of the world’s most famous tweeters, US President Donald Trump.
And in one stroke, Twitter doubles the complexity of our nation's foreign policy.
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) September 27, 2017
Meanwhile, you might want to prepare for threads to become even longer.
Oh God, the threads are going to be unbearable #280characters
— Liz Buckley (@liz_buckley) September 27, 2017
Of course, if you can’t think what to do with the new character count, you could always just do this.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀⠀ this, but with #280characters ⠀
— SoaR Chel$ea (@chhlss) September 26, 2017
Twitter announced the change on Tuesday night saying it wanted users to “easily express themselves on Twitter” in languages such as English and Spanish.
The 140-character limit remains for three languages – Japanese, Chinese and Korean – which allow more to be expressed in a single character.
