#Twitter10k: Is Twitter going cuckoo?
Tweets have spurred more concise communication on social media. At the cost of poor spelling :)
Just as I do not track how many words I speak on a daily basis, I do not typically track the number of characters I have typed, except when I am penning an article or tweeting.
If you are not familiar with Twitter, you may not be aware that there is a 140 character limit to every tweet composed.
Twitter was started as a SMS-based service. Before the wide usage of chat apps (Whatsapp, WeChat, Telegram and the like), the old-school way of mobile messaging had a 160-character limit.
So, the character limit on Twitter helped to ensure that a single tweet wouldn’t get broken up into multiple text messages.
For those of us familiar with the social media ecosystem, we’ve grown accustomed to the character limit by now. Personally, I feel the character limit is among the best traits that sets Twitter apart from other social media platforms.
For one, it has spurred more concise communication. Crafting a brief but clear message is an art that many Twitter power users have mastered.
The turn
Now, close to a decade after its inception, Twitter is ready to go beyond its famous 140-character limit.
Upon returning to the helm, co-founder and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (@jack) has been pressured by the company’s board of directors and investors alike, to increase Twitter’s user base and make it more relevant to the masses.
Extending the tweet length has been rumoured for months, but his affirmation earlier this week on the possibility of lifting the character limit prompted a fresh round of media frenzy.
The exact character limit is yet to be determined, but word ‘round the campfire has it that Twitter may be looking to shift to 10,000-character tweets!
To put that into perspective, that’s roughly three times the length of this article.
Unsurprisingly, users are tweeting about this like crazy, using the hashtag #Twitter10k.
My personal view?
The tech industry has already been discussing at length that Twitter is trying hard to emulate the success of Facebook (in terms of reach, engagement and ad revenue).
Increasing character limit alone will not make much of a difference.
In fact, it may even further dilute Twitter’s brand identity.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the view of Astro AWANI.
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