Twitter's character limit might jump from 280 to 1,000 | Mashable.
Twitter's character limit might jump from 280 to 1,000
 |
| How big should a tweet be? Credit: Nurphoto/Getty Images |
Twitter's character limit might soon balloon to 1,000, up from the current limit of 280 characters.
Recently, a Twitter user suggested that the social media platform increases the character limit to 1,000, and Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk responded "it's on the todo list."
In its early days, Twitter was often referred to as a microblogging service, primarily because of its 140 character limit for individual tweets. This was increased to 280 characters in 2017, and the limit, which is one of the key differentiators between Twitter and other social media services such as Facebook, remained in place ever since.
Since taking over at Twitter in October, Musk indicated, on several occasions, that he intends to increase the character limit. Just yesterday, he responded "good idea" to a Twitter user's suggestion to increase the character limit to 420 (a number that has importance for cannabis culture and is often referenced by Musk, most famously when he said he's "taking Tesla private" at the price of $420 per share).
Twitter's character limit has always been a divisive topic, with some users wanting more characters while others claim that increasing the limit will reduce the quality of posts and water down Twitter's identity which is largely associated with brevity.
The character limit increase is just one of many, many ideas Musk has thrown at the wall since taking the reins of Twitter. Other upcoming or potential changes include a new verification system, paywalled videos, and end-to-end encryption.
More in Twitter
I was the type of college student the maximum word count on assignments was created for. I’ve always appreciated the character limit on Twitter because it’s good practice for making your points in a more concise way. Perhaps more than 280 is appropriate but 1,000 is probably more than necessary.
ReplyDeleteagreed! It help me.
Deleteagree, short makes your think better before writing. Thats why I like Twitter more than FB.
DeleteI’m the same and I learned a lot from having a max word count. Maybe 500 is a good round number but would still allow more thought?
Deletetry Hella Doge 420 limit is better
DeleteI always chafed at the the shortness constraint and its pandering to unsubstantiated soundbite culture in which people just fart out oral methane thought-bubbles as one liners...
DeleteIf one wanted to engage with a topic, frame a bit of background, show how the OP was incorrect (or even a total idjit) and then present a better alternative that would take 4 or 5:10 word sentences
Bzzzzzzt - into the red
I would often just copy paste the offending message into an email - for safety
and then cut the "excess" length and "..." the end
and paste the next chunk with a "..." leadin
I can see the technical advantage of having a max limit -, 1024 or 2048 Chara - maybe with some reservation for headers, addresses, etc
The character limit was what made Twitter unique
ReplyDeleteand what made it 10 times smaller than FB
Deletelimited and straight to the point. New in 60sec
Deletelimited is bad is my point.
Deleteand useless.
DeleteShouldn’t it be called squawker then instead of twitter? I could see them expanding the char count with some sort of “read more” option to see the full length. But the initial view needs to be short and sweet. My assumption was that the name twitter came from the concept of a cell phone chirp… quick and short.
ReplyDeleteThe character limit is the best part of twitter.
DeleteBrief description and link is the best way to handle long thoughts.
Intermediate thoughts are best conveyed through a thread...although it should be easier to figure out how to do a thread.
Eh. We get bumper stickers and sophistry
Deleteagreed
DeleteThe Titanic keeps throwing out lifeboats. Let’s see how many he has.
ReplyDeletehe said he was going to change things
DeleteThese aren’t lifeboats -the Founder is even helping him out on many of these projects
The forced brevity was always Twitters greatest strength. Of course he'll change it.
ReplyDeleteyeah, that's why I saw so many post's write in part's 1, 2, 3 and more
DeleteI think that was mainly Trump. 😂
DeleteSure, you see that occasionally, but not anywhere near the majority. Not even close.
Deleteevery day, I know what I see
DeleteToo many characters for the average twit.
ReplyDeleteAnother genius move. Only a genius could have thought of that
ReplyDeleteWell the sycophants are fawning and believing that lol
DeleteI know right? Freaking BRILLIANT! 💅🏻
DeleteIf you’re writing a tweet with 1k characters… bye. 😂
ReplyDeleteMashable still on a breakdown because of Elon, come on guys! You can do better! How about an article on how Disney is losing money and big time!?
ReplyDeleteMashable is getting a lot of clicks thanks to focusing on Twitter while Musk is taking a wrecking ball to it. Don't you know how the internet works?
Deletewhy not both?
Deletehttps://www.cliffsnotes.com/.../how-to.../avoiding-fallacies
Deletespot on! 😂
Deletethey are the masters of clickbait 😂
DeleteOh, the important stuff 😂
DeleteApparently it works with you.
Deleteyep I don't even read the article I come straight to the comments 😂
Deleteare you trumpers even capable of having a single conversation in life without using "whataboutism"? Seriously.
DeleteHe's really doing everything he can to kill the goose. At this rate it would have been a lot cheaper and easier to build a social media site from scratch instead of buying one and turning it into a new one.
ReplyDeleteNot a single one of these ideas has been thought out beyond the fever dream from which it arose.
ReplyDeleteSoon Shakespeare will have a verified account with all his work in a single Tweet 😅
ReplyDeleteHe could have done so much good with 44 Billion dollars. Who cares what happens to Twitter.
ReplyDeleteYour votes care apparently…
DeleteIf he is going to up the character limit, it should be to 420😉
ReplyDelete42069 character limit.
DeleteBecause that's what twitter needs, more think-pieces 😒
ReplyDeleteMusk is a putz! Says he founded Telas. He didn’t. Said he founded SpaceX. He didn’t. What he knows is how to get tax breaks and money out of the government and how to kill Twitter. lol
ReplyDeleteYou may need to rethink the name then. “Rambling”, “TLDR” or “Verbal Diarrhea”?
ReplyDeleteThey will need a TLDR button to click at this rate
DeleteDidn't it used to be 40?
ReplyDeletemiss that old time
Deletesounds lame
DeleteIt’ll just be Facebook then
ReplyDeletePretty much. An improvement, IMO, but not something that would distinguish the service from 100 others.
DeleteThe character limit for many users is Musk himself…
ReplyDeleteI think people's fears of Twitter becoming a right wing version of itself are wrong. It will become a right wing version of Facebook. All that is left to do is allow people to create groups and pages, and a handful of other odd features to make it look much like FB.
ReplyDeleteWhat he needs to do is extended the @ handle to more characters.
ReplyDeleteIts not a tweet anymore its a blog 😄
ReplyDeletePerfect for a covfefe rant!
ReplyDeleteOP always has astute advice for the successful businessman. 🙏🏽
ReplyDeleteKISS It (keep it simple, stupid) 280 characters is more than enough.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Twits can think up more than 280 characters?
ReplyDeleteAs increasingly most of us don’t want to put ANY characters on that twit-owned platform!
ReplyDeleteTwitter roots was a text messaging service.The original charter limit was to accommodate the minimum size of SMS for cell phones at the time. Obviously that limit is not necessary anymore.
ReplyDeleteChange lots of things at once then you won’t be able to tie cause to effect. But you’ll look real busy!
ReplyDeleteTwitter was hacked. Easy target now 🤣
ReplyDeleteYou find always things to not like with Musk’s Twitter?
ReplyDelete“Limit”? 🤔
ReplyDeleteHaha, I can write a novel in one post 😂
ReplyDeleteShould just name it Blogger now.
ReplyDeleteSo just carve away everything that makes twitter twitter lol
ReplyDeleteDoes he really need more words to tell his employees they don't work hard enough?
ReplyDeleteYes, more time spent reading incomplete sentences.
ReplyDeleteFirst good decision
ReplyDeletenah, this has the been the worse one so far. The whole appeal of Twitter was the short posts.
DeleteGonna post novels soon.
ReplyDeleteThe essence of Twitter is the ingenuity to create tweets with that character limit, not create long and boring texts
ReplyDeletePress 1 a lot of times to make it 1,000 characters lol
ReplyDeleteSour sour
ReplyDeleteYes please!
ReplyDeletebirds are singing "twit, twit, twit..."
ReplyDeleteRethuglicans love wordy lies.
ReplyDeleteMan, Mashable is really sick about the media not being in control of Twitter. Lmao
ReplyDeleteso accurate. If they also did any research they would know that it'll probably jump to a 420 char limit.
DeleteFor the low cost of $69 per year.
Deletetrue man! check my comment above .. it's so obvious haha
DeleteI dont want to read books. Bad idea
ReplyDeleteIt's for TRUMP convenience 🤦🏻
ReplyDeleteOne thing I’ve never liked about Twitter are when people post a bunch of tweets that comprise one long message. When I had Twitter notifications set up on my phone, I would get dings non-stop, and 99.9% of the time, it was people posting tweet after tweet after tweet to relay one message. Glad I never became reliant on Twitter, because I don’t predict they’ll survive this… at least, not with who is currently steering the ship.
ReplyDeleteThread Roll really helpful. And I stopped notifications with all social media. Need to breathe.
Deletenooooooooo I want my extra interactions 😂😂😂
ReplyDeleteI need them hahah
DeleteWaaa waaaaaa waaaa 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteO well if I don’t want to read a paragraph at the moment then I’ll just scroll by no need to bring the tissues
ReplyDeletepeople alreaedy tweet long posts, they just do them in chunks. This makes sense. And if its a I got crit by text for 100 then don't read it?
ReplyDeleteSeriously? That's not a tweet. That's a long chirp. Just change name to The Long Chirp. 🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck is Twitter?
ReplyDelete🙄
ReplyDeletehttps://media1.tenor.co/images/de9cd8b9efaf9ba8488cd2eb62c34711/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=16731295
He said he would copy Hella Doge and make it 420 in which case I will sue - no question
ReplyDeleteIf he did this, that would be one move I'd actually agree with. It wouldn't be enough to make me use Twitter. He lost me forever. But being able to elaborate and not talk in sound bites is a good thing. How many times have you seen "/1", "/2", etc. on posts because people had more to say than would fit in a tweet? I think a longer post length would make Twitter more competitive.
ReplyDeleteTwitter wasn't meant to write a Memoir, Novel, Script...People are Poor Communicators.
DeleteBe Clear, Concise & Consistent.
The average word is 5 characters. That gives you about 47 words (once you account for the period and the spaces between the words) to get your point across. 47 words is barely even flash fiction. It lends itself to shouting slogans, not meaningful discussion.
DeleteTwitter isn’t for meaningful discussion.
DeleteYeah, and that's kind of the problem. 🙂
Deleteuse thread reader, etc. there are tons of other platforms. But The bird app should have never gone more that 140. The 280 was dumb. I remember being mad then.
DeleteIgnorance DOESN'T Prove your point.
DeleteHow would your ignorance prove anything about my point?
DeleteThe limitless will hold out....a thousand limiting free speech I expected....just didn't expect it do be done so brute and basic. Expectations.
ReplyDeleteYeah because 280...2...80...definitely sounds like a nice neat number everyone would assume needs to be the limit...
ReplyDeletewhy not reddit? ☺️
ReplyDeleteManifesto.
ReplyDeleteMove on mashable...
ReplyDeleteHilarious 😆
ReplyDeleteGenius in action 🥳https://media.tenor.co/images/0e42f722e2ec16e5cbaefd04f5440104/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=21819173
ReplyDeleteNow when you stumble on a tweet rant it will go on forever. Great!!! 😅🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteWelcomw to twit blog
ReplyDeleteIs there any news other than about some website that almost no one I know uses?
ReplyDelete280 isn’t enough so I can see a jump
ReplyDeleteMakes sense to me
he should write a bestseller - "how to ruin a great thing in 5 or less steps".
ReplyDeleteit will sooner jump to 420
ReplyDeleteWhen given the freedom to write a whole blog post, people turn into deer in the headlights
ReplyDelete💁♀️
ReplyDelete420
ReplyDeleteNext Musk will require tweets be in all caps.
ReplyDeleteA 1,000 character tweet from trump would probably be less boring than hearing one of his stupid speeches live in person.
ReplyDeleteTL;DR
ReplyDeletethe dork is bringing back all the people that spread disinformation, conspiracies, threats and of course all the mayhem that the lies and stupidity bring.
ReplyDeleteWhat could possibly go wrong, especially after firing thousands of people? LMAO
He already blocked people using his name and/or making fun of him (so much for free speech), and verified Jesus Christ.
Mashabe, why are you so pissy about Musk? Why are you so desperate for his D?
ReplyDeleteTwitter created a completely weird phenomenon in punctuation
ReplyDeleteIn order to save space, periodS are only used to express concern, or signify you’re old AF
I might join Twitter if that happens.
ReplyDeleteMashable big mad! 🤡
ReplyDeleteNO quality communication to be found on Twitter
ReplyDeleteThis will represent a direct challenge to FaceBook.
ReplyDeleteThrow the dart against the wall, if it falls, throw another dart. Keep trying till you see what sticks.
ReplyDeleteNo, thanks.
ReplyDeleteNaaaahhhhh!!
ReplyDeleteWould be unfair to all the racists and fascists who struggle to articulate themselves at the current character limit. Takes a lot of #covfefe to think that hard!
ReplyDeleteYeah, more room for hatred, bigotry and mis/disinformation.
ReplyDeleteEven longer lies from Trump then
ReplyDeleteJust a small reminder to you Mashable..... https://www.statementsclothing.nu/huvudbonader/beanies-collection/basic-beanies/go-woke-go-broke-d-style-one-size
ReplyDeleteHow about zero?
ReplyDeleteBetter, no?
If you don't change with the times you become obsolete, this has no impact on short response but let's others say more in one tweet than having to break it up into more than one.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if 1000 is a lot, but maybe 500 words would be OK.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you didn't get the limit increase unless you got the blue check? Lol
ReplyDeletehe is dumb as a bag of hammers
ReplyDeleteThis is the only guy that mashable writes about now fake journalist who don't report on real stories
ReplyDeleteOh, sounds like a dream come true for spammers
ReplyDeleteSo… it’s Facebook now
ReplyDeleteWe don't need a dissertation on Twitter. Stupid
ReplyDeleteWhy he doesn't Announce making Twitter a new blogger 🤦♂️?
ReplyDelete"Why not just make it infinite, then?"- literally a definition of a stupid title
ReplyDeleteSo babble mouth can just run on and on…….
ReplyDeleteYou see, Mashable are my indicator if I wanted to know if the mainstream media are pushing a certain narrative.. examples would be how bad Qatar is and how cute and cuddly those who went there knowing the the rainbow flag is not allowed yet went all the same! Turning on Elon is their Narrative now ... especially, after reinstating D Trump! but they think we have such a short memory! the same nonsense was said when twitter increased to 280 back in 2017 and of course Mashable claimed that trolls and DT are the only happy people with that! and the BUNCH OF PEOPLE are "freaking out"!! It's so obvious! News is not your profession too emotional (hehe) for it!
ReplyDeletehttps://mashable.com/article/twitter-character-limit-280-reactions
He wants to destroy everything that made Twitter unique as a service.
ReplyDeleteBecause Elon likes to blather on and on... but then... ADHD sets in.
ReplyDeleteSoon, will be the same as Facebook!
ReplyDeleteElon lives rent free in Mashable’s head. It’s great! 😆
ReplyDeleteThis will give the right and left conspirators freedom of dumb speech better
ReplyDeleteYes, because long af threads of 280 word posts is so much better, right?
ReplyDeleteGenius level stuff here🥴🥴😂🤣
ReplyDeleteMy tweets later:
ReplyDeleteIf you 😶 are really ✔ being serious 😳, this 👉 sub 💪 was made to store important 😎 documentaries 📑 one day we may need 👨🎓, and we shall easily 😀 “copy-paste” 🤯 them in our resumes 😎😎 for applying to jobs 💯.
Alternatively, you can use copypastas to effectively get kicked out of group texts that you want nothing to do with. The first time you send a 10 page text is all it takes.
Maybe you should have bought Twitter.
ReplyDeleteApparently Elon thinks we need to hear more of his BS.
ReplyDeleteThats 250 consecutive LMAO!
ReplyDeleteShould like another Facebook
ReplyDeleteHow about shut it down twatter
ReplyDeleteWho cares, most of us have left 🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteespecially the advertisers.
DeleteBad idea
ReplyDeleteRevolutionary thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe Seething here is so delicious!
ReplyDeleteHello please 🥺🙏🥺 cash app me tag on $kennyla2a to get something to eat please and god bless you.
ReplyDelete