A technology-based website Re/code reported on Tuesday that microblogging site Twitter is considering of changing its key feature 140-character tweet limit to as long as 10,000 characters. This possible modification will now allow Twitter users more freedom and space to post over 1,000 words per tweet.
The social networking site's new 10,000-character limit will reportedly roll out by the end of the first quarter, although an official date has not been posted yet. Insiders reveal that this alteration will commence ahead of the launching of Twitter's final version.
The expansion might actually be a solution to the screenshot images users post instead of the actual words to get away with the 140-character limit. However, although not directly confirming the limit expansion, Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey in a chain of tweets described it as "a beautiful constraint."
"We're not going to be shy about building more utility and power into Twitter for people," Dorsey wrote in a 1325-long screenshot message. He also added that as long as it is going to be consistent with people's actions, they are going to explore it.
Twitter has been cooperating with Dorsey to create a more engaging and appealing networking site. In just a few months, it has unveiled a number of new features such as adding tweet polls, rolling out "Moments" feature, introducing "buy" button and changing star-shaped "favorite" icon to heart-shaped "like" button.
Despite preferring to retain its conventional look, there has been a lot of makeover going on in Twitter lately because of the pressure put upon the company to boost its user growth and ad revenue. In 2015, it had experienced its slowest user growth. Now boasting of its 300 million users, it was still surpassed by Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram with 400 million users in 2015.
However, some users are not so happy with the latest news. Others took sentiment against the expanded tweet limit with the hashtag #beyond140. Despite the "sacredness" of the 140-character limit, Twitter cannot afford to remain stagnant. "They need to get bigger if they want to build a more relevant advertising platform," Blake Harner, Topeka Capital Markets analyst, said.
