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The Internet is all a-twitter with the news: instead of the 140-character limit that has existed since the inception of the network, some Twitter users are getting the ability to double their tweet length to a whopping 280 characters.<\/p>\n
This news is dividing users sharply. Are longer tweets a good thing or a bad thing? Two members of DAC\u2019s strategy team, Sari Stein and Melissa Chen, square off in this five-point debate.<\/p>\n
Huzzah! Twitter has granted me a great gift. 140 extra characters to play with on each and every tweet. Oh, the possibilities!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m all in favour of this change, and I hope it sticks around. Here are 5 reasons why:<\/p>\n
The original 140-character limit was created during a time when the limit of an SMS text message was 160 characters. This provided the ability to add a retweet prefix and still send a message by phone. However, this limit hasn\u2019t existed in a long time, and most people are using apps on their phones to tweet anyway. Why should this relic stick around?<\/li>\n
Spelling, grammar and punctuation have all become casualties of the texting era. Twitter\u2019s 140-character limit has forced otherwise intelligent business professionals to drop commas, apostrophes or even vowels in attempt to cram their thoughts into such a small space.<\/p>\n
With double the character length, could this mean a return to full sentences? This is surely welcome news to us grammar nerds, for whom an improperly used apostrophe is as grating as the scrape of nails on a chalkboard. Will proper spelling once again become cool? Might we even see the return of prepositions, adjectives, or even an adverb or two?<\/li>\n
Political discussion, debate and even policy increasingly take place on Twitter. And this is a big problem. Arguably, we\u2019re as polarized as we\u2019ve ever been. Twitter\u2019s character limit hasn\u2019t provided a lot of room for nuance, discussion or debate. To paraphrase Martin Sheen\u2019s President Bartlet in The West Wing, You simply can\u2019t reduce all thoughts to ten-word answers<\/a>\u2026 or to 140-character tweets. A little extra space might lead to a little more thought, which can only be a good thing.<\/li>\n This change is in response to user demand. First, links were automatically shortened. Next, images no longer counted against the character limit. Then, apps created workarounds for those who wanted to tweet a more complete thought. Tweet strings (multiple tweets posted as replies to one another, often enumerated as 4\/10, 5\/10, etc.) began to emerge. Platforms like Medium were created to provide a platform for longer-form text.<\/p>\n The truth is, people want to express longer thoughts. It\u2019s been clear for some time that the 140-character limit was limiting Twitter\u2019s growth. You can\u2019t rest on your laurels in the rapidly changing world of social media; sometimes you need to evolve or die. Twitter is choosing to evolve. Good for them.<\/li>\n Twitter hasn\u2019t turned into Medium or WordPress. 280 characters is still short enough to encourage bite-sized, scannable content. Our brains won\u2019t be overly taxed with this change. It may even make me love Twitter again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n \n Get exclusive insights into digital The public demanded it<\/h3>\n
280 characters is still short<\/h3>\n
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