I do not know whether there is something magical about this 140-character limit but Twitter has been on this issue for some time now. Earlier this year, the company considered raising the limit to as many as 10,000 characters but it changed its mind. It seems the quick, brief nature of tweets is one its unique selling points.
Now Bloomberg reports that Twitter is making a major shift in how it counts characters in Tweets, giving users more freedom to compose longer messages.
“The social media company will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them. The company declined to comment.”
CEO Jack Dorsey had said in January that the company was looking for new ways to display text on Twitter, and would experiment based on how people use the service.
Executives have spent the last few months emphasizing how Twitter is a destination for live events and discussion. Removing the character requirement for links and photos may encourage users to add more media to their posts.
