27 September 2017, India:
Twitter is testing tweets as long as 280 characters, double the previous amount of 140. However, the feature is only available to a select few at the moment, and is not available in Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
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
The current character limit was “a major cause of frustration” for some users, Twitter said in a blog post.
Aliza Rosen, Product Manager, Twitter said, “We want every person around the world to easily express themselves on Twitter, so we’re doing something new: we’re going to try out a longer limit, 280 characters, in languages impacted by cramming (which is all except Japanese, Chinese, and Korean).
She added, “We see that a small percent of Tweets sent in Japanese have 140 characters (only 0.4%). But in English, a much higher percentage of Tweets have 140 characters (9%). Most Japanese Tweets are 15 characters while most English Tweets are 34. Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English, but it is not for those Tweeting in Japanese. Also, in all markets, when people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people Tweeting – which is awesome!”
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Twitteratis went berserk and trolled Twitter for its latest update as well as US President Donald Trump. Here are few of the tweets-
This will be a day long remembered: Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive, and Twitter allowed tweets more than 140 characters.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 26, 2017
everyone: “hey twitter, could you do something to stop trump from starting a war on here?”
twitter: “what if we gave him…longer tweets?”
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) September 26, 2017
How about this: Twitter gives everyone 280 characters — except Donald Trump, who gets cut down to 70.
Is it a deal?
— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) September 26, 2017
Users: pls ban actual nazis
Twitter: profile pics are circles!
Users: but nazis
Twitter: more chARACTERS!
Users: na-
Twitter: WUBBA LUBBA DU— Thal ❤ (@thalestral) September 26, 2017
Twitter: How can we improve our service?
Everyone: Get rid of nazis, oh and an edit button would nice.
Twitter: So you want 280 characters?— Daryl (@darylginn) September 26, 2017
@twitter we don’t need 280 characters. That’s what FB is for. pic.twitter.com/WgiC6k7Gi7
— Mr. It Is Our Duty (@Mr_ItIsOurDuty) September 26, 2017
(Cover Image- techfrag)
Also Read: Sriram Krishnan Joins Twitter as Senior Director of Product
