It was announced that Twitter is likely going to expand the limit on tweets from 140 characters. It has been said that Twitter is going to produce a new technology that makes it possible for tweets to be longer. How will this affect Twitter as a company? I don’t necessarily feel as if longer tweets would do any harm to the company. However, Twitter is known for their 140 character limit and it has become a part of their identity. How they implement this new expansion of characters is going to be important.
I think since Twitter is so well known for the short 140 character limit, it has almost become an art form to be able to get a clear thought/opinion/idea out in that set amount of space. I would like to see where this goes, and if it does happen, see how long it lasts. I wonder if Twitter users will like the longer tweets. As a Twitter user myself, I don’t want to see paragraphs and essays on my timeline. I think that would get really annoying having to try to read all of those. In my eyes Twitter is used for short bits of news or opinions or to have a conversation with someone. Expanding the length of tweets may help some people but I do not see the benefit in it for me. I say we keep our tweets just like they are – short, simple, and to the point!
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I completely agree with you. The character limit was Twitter’s “hook”. I feel they will alienate their original user base for the allure of a broader one. While it may seem like a good idea to draw more users, they may alter the QUALITY of their content base, which could be far more damaging if their original contributors do not follow.
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I agree with every aspect of this post. What I think it could do is draw in a whole new audience. You see Facebook posts of people writing paragraphs in a single post but you don’t have the ability to do that on twitter. In the article I wrote, Instagram and Pintrest have no restrictions on character limits and their audiences have doubled in the past three years. With a small increase of users in Facebook, but over 70% of adults already using Facebook, Twitter has only a slight increase and has actually plateaued the past two years. This increase in characters could bring big things to Twitter.
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I agree that twitter is trying to expand their offering. Twitter was one of the pioneer social medias and has done well since its creation. I think that by expanding their character limit they will reach new audiences. It seems like many social medias are implementing new software to try to stay competitive with their offering.
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You’re correct when you say that tweeting in 140 characters was part of their identity. I think that expanding the tweet count could potentially hurt their image because people turn to Twitter to get quick hits of content as opposed to reading long posts. I hope that Twitter does not turn into Facebook with people posting paragraph long tweets.
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I have to agree as well. I also did this same topic for my blog for this week. 140 characters is what makes Twitter, Twitter. I think the company will take a hit due to the long length of tweets if expanded on its already 140 character limit. I believe if you have something to say that is long in length, go on Facebook. We don’t need those two social medias getting too similar. Hopefully Twitter won’t make this move.
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