Would Instagram would be as popular as it is today if it didn’t limit its users with its square images? What about Snapchat and its ten-second messages, or Vine and its six-second videos? The answer is no, because those limitations are what keep things clean and simple for users. That being said, many apps and services end up removing their limitations once they’ve built a large enough userbase, but that’s not always a good idea. For an example of where this is a bad idea, one need only look at Twitter. On Tuesday, it was reported that the company is considering removing the 140-character limit for tweets, which was met with massive amounts of backlash from investors and users alike.
Longer tweets are coming soon to Twitter. Twitter is building a new feature that will allow users to tweet things longer than the traditional 140-character limit, and the company is targeting a launch date toward the end of Q1, according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans. Twitter is currently considering a 10,000 character limit, according to these sources. That’s the same character limit the company uses for its Direct Messages product, so it isn’t a complete surprise. There is no official launch date set in stone, these sources say. It’s also possible the character limit could fluctuate before it rolls out the final product, which people inside Twitter refer to as “Beyond 140.” Re/code first reported that Twitter was building a product like this back in September. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment. Twitter is currently testing a version of the product in which tweets appear the same way they do now, displaying just 140 characters, with some kind of call to action that there is more content you can’t see. Clicking on the tweets would then expand them to reveal more content. The point of this is to keep the same look and feel for your timeline, although this design is not necessarily final, sources say.
