Twitter announced yesterday (9/26) that they’re testing a new 280-character limit to allow users to “easily express themselves.”
Because, clearly, we need more of this:
In a blog post, Twitter explains, “When people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people tweeting.”
That’s, I suppose, what we call a paradox.
Twitter currently has close to 330 million users, but has been lagging behind other social media platforms in attracting new ones. The company’s revenue has been stagnant, while smaller social media sites, like Mastadon for example, have been becoming increasingly common.
In a 280-character tweet (of course) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey introduced his less-than-concise idea to the world, claiming that twitter will still be a paragon of “brevity, speed and essence” while solving a “real problem.”
Which is interesting, considering Dorsey promised last May, 2016, that he wasn’t going to be adding to the allotted character counts.
But you can’t make everybody happy.
Not every Twitter user will be able to use the new limit (although Ellen DeGeneres will be one of the first, and has already responded in humor),
so keep your eyes peeled and fingers ready for a roll-out en masse soon.
And, if you’d like to know which Minnesota cities are using Twitter and other social media platforms the most, check out this handy guide Use of Social Media by Minnesota Cities and Counties from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
