Twitter’s decision to double its character limit to 280 has not been received with universal acclaim. Even – make that especially – on Twitter.
Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, broke the news on Wednesday.
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
Not every Twitter user will have access to the new character limit just yet. In a social divide, Twitter has selected only a small number of accounts to test the new long tweet feature. And in a matter of seconds, Twitter users inevitably took to Twitter to quip with the much wordier messages.
139 characters pic.twitter.com/WkfdXL8oLh
— Caitlin Kelly (@caitlin__kelly) September 26, 2017
Some users toyed with the current 140-character restriction.
The 280-character limit is a terrible idea. The whole beauty of Twitter is that it forces you to express your ideas concisely (1/47)
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) September 26, 2017
Now that we have 280 character tweets I'm just going to quote song lyrics at length, like MSN Messenger screen names circa 2003
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) September 26, 2017
so blessed to have 280 characters on twitter. so moved. never taking this for granted. will always be grateful. i'd first like to thank jesu
— wes10 (@Wes10) September 27, 2017
— #TakeTheKlee (@MilesKlee) September 27, 2017
Oh wow you guys it seems I'm one of the small group of users to get the 280 character Twitter expansion this is just so exciting and will let me tweet much more complex thoughts and hilarious jokes so let me start by thanking Jack Dorsey and Twitter for enabling me to better shar
— Petra #VoteYEStarke (@petstarr) September 26, 2017
Super excited about the move to 280 characters!
— Ken Norton (@kennethn) September 27, 2017
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Others imagined what fresh hell the US president might unleash.
.@realDonaldTrump has been wrecking America 140 characters at a time. Imagine what he could do with 280 now.
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) September 27, 2017
With 280 characters now trump can start a nuclear war and a war with the NFL in one tweet. What a time to be alive
— dan (@dannolan) September 26, 2017
US TV personality Chrissy Teigen suggested the 140-character limit was an emblem of a simpler time.
literally my only talent was being able to think of tweets exactly 140 characters long. i don't know if I will be able to alter this to 280.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 26, 2017
Others argued that a higher character limit was the gift that nobody wanted.
twitter: what do you guys want
— Goth Ms. Frizzle (@spookperson) September 26, 2017
everyone: get rid of the nazis and fix the report system
twitter: did I hear 280 characters
Mom: Wow, our baby is carrying a knife, that seems unsafe.
— Frederick Douglass (@HITEXECUTIVE) September 27, 2017
Dad: What should we do?
Mom: Double the size of the knife.#280characters
Now we'll get 280 character death threats instead of 140 character death threats. Twitter, tackle the real problems.
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) September 26, 2017
Twitter users: Stop racists, stop hate crime, stop bots, we want a chronological timeline and an edit function…
— Nick Baker (@bicknaker) September 26, 2017
Twitter: 280 characters!
- What could Donald Trump do with 280 Twitter characters? So, so much!
- Brevity is the soul of Twitter. We don’t need 280 characters to say that | Dom Knight
