photo: Craig Carpenter, RelayThat
It’s official. Twitter has expanded its character length from 140 to 280 characters.
They did a test launch back in September that received a lot of criticism because let’s face it, 140 characters is what made Twitter, Twitter. Many users argued that increasing the tweet size would make Twitter less readable as longer tweets filled up the feeds. And as I mentioned in a previous blog post, Twitter does not need to become another Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.
Twitter decided to go ahead and roll out longer tweets on November 7. They did this everywhere except for those using Japanese, Korean and Chinese, because character length is not an issue for those languages.
Twitter says it’s easier to tweet when given more space. And that with more room to tweet, there’s room for higher engagement, more followers and more time spent on the platform. That remains to be seen.
I was granted access to Twitter’s new update right in the middle of the #SocialROI chat that I host every Tuesday at 5pm ET. I watched some participants post tweets that were definitely longer. I didn’t like it. It seems odd and out of place. Especially during a fast-paced chat. It’s hard enough to keep up, but now trying to wade through longer tweets would become nightmare. Luckily only a few people tried longer form tweets during that chat.
Later that evening, I experimented. I tried a few longer tweets. At first it seemed weird. But what was even weirder is that Twitter does not give you the number of character spaces at the onset. As a matter of fact, you don’t know how many characters you’ve tweeted until you come upon the last 20 out of 280 characters. I found myself easily typing up longer tweets. Was this a ploy to get us to write out longer thoughts? Hmm, I wondered. And what’s up with the circle in the bottom right corner?
So it didn’t take long. A few nights ago I was busy prepping and promoting the #TwitterSmarter chat that I host every Thursday at 1pm ET. I came up with a really great tweet. I got creative with the space. It’s more compelling and attention grabbing. Check this out.
Join me & @CraigCarpenter on the #TwitterSmarter chat Thursday 1pm ET. Topic: How to Turn Tweets Into Visual Content That “Wins The Feed”
Learn how:
– visual content grabs attention
– connect with influencers
– stand out when live tweeting
– the best tools for visual content pic.twitter.com/KXwpVuuTYa— Madalyn Sklar ? (@MadalynSklar) November 8, 2017
Twitter’s best asset is its brevity. Sharing concise information is what drew me to Twitter, as I’m sure most of you. But I can also see beyond the 140 and that this change is not so bad after all. There will be times where we need that extra character space, or two or ten. But I am worried about spammers being more spammy. And Twitter chats being difficult to wade through. Twitter says that the excitement should wear off soon and people will go back to the concise. It will be interesting to see what happens.
More space which gives you room to be creative. You can now share an expanded thought on Twitter and go far beyond what you were used to with just 140 characters. Many are on the fence about this new move, as I was. But as I spent more time experimenting, I realized there will be times where some extra space will come in handy.
I posted a Twitter poll to get an idea as to what people in my community thought about this major change. In just 24 hours, I received 566 votes! The results are quite interesting.
27% love it
29% hate it
44% are on the fence
**Take My Poll**
What do you think about the new Twitter 280 character limit?
(and please comment your expanded response, I’ll be writing a blog post about it and would love to include you)— Madalyn Sklar ? (@MadalynSklar) November 8, 2017
I sorted through 100 comments and found interesting commentary that covers every angle.
Mixed feelings. Confortable to not have to squeeze your message sometimes. But 140 makes it quicker & easier to read. Straighter to the point.
— Caramelle (@caramelle7166) November 8, 2017
A small increase would have been OK. Jumping up to 280 seems unnecessary. Not a fan.
— John Espirian ☕️ (@espirian) November 8, 2017
Not sure… My first reaction is “hate it” because I always loved the main purpose of Twitter (being quick and relevant in 140 characters) and I hope I won’t have to read super long tweets from now on – On the other hand, there’s more room for your thoughts, like I’m doing now ?
— Sabrina Cadini (@SabrinaCadini) November 8, 2017
Brevity is the beauty of Twitter; people are encouraged to be creative/grammatical with #140.
— Emma Jordan (@dgtlwriter) November 8, 2017
The joy of Twitter was info & humour + brevity. Life is too short for long tweets
— Shirley Reynolds (@DrS_Reynolds) November 8, 2017
I did some research & it claimed the avg tweet length was 34 chars. I expect people will play with 280 a bit, then settle back to normal.
— Barefoot?Backpacker (@RTWBarefoot) November 8, 2017
It’s lost its brevity, that’s for sure. I’m on the fence. I’m not excited about it but I’m trying to find ways to use it properly so I’m not spamming out a lot of useless info.
— Madalyn Sklar ? (@MadalynSklar) November 8, 2017
I love 280. 140 doesn’t encourage intelligent brevity; it encourages crap like “4u2c”, what I call “twitbonics”. I think 280 will also cut down on those multi part “1/x” tweets.
— Lisa Sue (@LisaGirlyboy71) November 8, 2017
140 not quite enough but 280 way too much.
— Ramona 48 ???? (@AlisonB46440462) November 8, 2017
On the fence because there were times I spent ages re-editing because I was over by about 5 characters. It will be useful for that but didn’t need 140 extras to play with! ?
— Louise Upchurch (@Loulou_Uberkirk) November 8, 2017
New limits mean new opportunities for creativity!!
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) November 8, 2017
Mixed emotions. 140 characters made Twitter interesting. You quickly get to the point. However, 280 characters also offers more creativity.
— Khulekani Christian (@KhulekaniMj) November 9, 2017
I love it! #280CharacterTweets It makes me happy to be able to express myself in a complete sentence. Now I can expand my thoughts in the same Tweet and actually feel confident that my message is coming across clearly. Brevity has its merits. It’s nice to have the option.
— Melissa Reyes (@MizMeliz) November 9, 2017
Twitter marketing is an art. Those of us that have been here have this down to a science. Twitter is efficient. It is not Facebook. It will become Facebook.
— Susan Marie ☮ (@SusanMarie_NY) November 9, 2017
While I am not a fan of the plethora of obligatory “look at me I have 280 characters” I don’t see people using all 280 characters in the long run but instead so where between 160-180 on average. Because this is a platform of brevity, period.
— Jeff Perry (@iamjeffperry) November 9, 2017
280 characters was an exaggeration of what Twitter actually needed. For work I share lots of links, so 23 characters for a link was always a challenge. This will make that easier. On the flip side, I’ve already seen people abusing the extra characters with over explaining.
— Charmayne Hefley (@CharmayneAnn) November 9, 2017
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Thanks @Twitter, we can
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* ☄️#280characters— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) November 8, 2017
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Let’s go. #280characters— Delta (@Delta) November 9, 2017
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?Twitter is finally Texas-sized.#280characters
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) November 9, 2017