SAN FRANCISCO – Nov. 10, 2017 – Twitter’s approximately 330 million users can now send tweets that are up to 280 characters in length, Twitter announced last Tuesday – double its previous limit of 140 characters.
In September, Twitter tested longer tweets on a small group of users. The company says they found those with an expanded character limit spent less time editing their tweets, spent more time on Twitter, and interacted with more users on the social network.
“We saw when people needed to use more than 140 characters, they tweeted more easily and more often,” Aliza Rosen, a company product manager, wrote in a blog. “More space makes it easier for people to fit thoughts in a tweet, so they could say what they want to say, and send tweets faster than before.”
Twitter, which launched in 2006, first adopted the 140-character limit because it was close to the maximum that could fit in mobile text messages. Smartphones now allow for more expanded views.
Source: “Twitter Doubles Tweet Limit to 280 Characters,” Bloomberg (Nov. 7, 2017)
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