Has Twitter changed their mind about upping the character count?

Pivoting into long-form content

As we previously reported, Twitter was rumored to be changing the amount of characters they allow in a Tweet. The controversial hints would change their signature character count from 140 to an astounding 10,000. This would be an interesting move given most marketing experts concur less is more in our instant gratification, low attention span society.

However, it seems as though Twitter users dreaming of more room to express themselves will be sorely disappointed. In an interview with TODAY, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, answered Matt Lauer’s question regarding the change of the Twitter character count. Dorsey stated that their signature character count would remain unchanged because they wanted to preserve the feeling of “of-the-moment brevity.” While he did state “they were always going to make Twitter better,” this does not include increasing the character count.

What happened to the 10,000 characters we were supposed to get?

The tweet that started all the scuttlebutt, hinted that character count would be increased in an effort to make Twitter more user-friendly. Ironically, since Dorsey himself used a screenshot to post his letter. He stated he wanted users to have a way to post what they wanted instead of screenshoting text and then tweeting the image. Twitter wants to make this text searchable, highlightable, and useful; but how can they do this without increasing the character limit? My guess is with links. Links are shortened on Twitter already, but with the advent of hashtags and other categorizing methods, I feel like you can still get your message across in 140 characters. Perhaps Twitter has something else in mind, but we do know 140 characters are here to stay.

What happens next?

Perhaps Twitter will give users the long awaited “edit” option? I’m not sure where they are headed, but it looks like they have something in mind. While change always seems to stir up a bit of controversy, where social media is concerned, the controversy doesn’t seem to last long. All those Facebook users who were upset about the changes to the layout have long since gotten over them. All the Twitter users who were irate about background images have adapted to the change. Social media is a constant struggle of who can offer the best platform, that engages users and business alike and it seems like Twitter is doing nothing more than trying to keep themselves at the top of their game. What do you think about the decision to keep the character count where it is?

#Keeping140Characters