By: Philip | 09-27-2017 | News
Photo credit: Ekinyalgin | Dreamstime.com

Twitter Goes Gab, Doubling Char Count

Twitter is abandoning their trademark 140 character limit, doubling it to 280. Twitter explains that their original choice was basically an arbitrary one and based around the current SMS limit of 160 characters. According to market research one thing that has kept people from tweeting more are the character constraints. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it's sometimes hard to get your point across in 140 characters or less, especially when you factor in the obligatory #hashtags.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can&#39;t wait to ruin timelines with 280 emojis<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂<br>😂</p>&mdash; Counter.Fund (@CounterFund) <a href="https://twitter.com/CounterFund/status/912796088180068353">September 26, 2017</a></blockquote>

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The plan hasn't come to fruition without serious internal debate. Currently at a seeming peak saturation with 328 million users, Twitter is having difficulty attracting new users. Investors have voiced concerns this new growth stalemate may affect their bottom line.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Broke: 140 chars<br>Woke: 280 chars<br>Bespoke: Using 280 chars to tweet all your 140 char tweets<br><br>v<br>e<br>r<br>t<br>i<br>c<br>a<br>l<br>l<br>y<br>.</p>&mdash; Counter.Fund (@CounterFund) <a href="https://twitter.com/CounterFund/status/912806468369436672">September 26, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Just last year, Twitter attempted an experiment in their format by extending character count allowing photo and GIFs to post without them affecting the character limit. A brief foray into 140+ tweets resulted in criticisms from users which led to Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey saying the limit would remain in effect. At 280 characters, Twitter is now only 20 characters short of new kid on the block, <a href="http://www.gab.ai>competitor Gab.ai.</a> Some users are already upset about the change but Twitter defends their decision:

<blockquote>“We understand since many of you have been tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters,” the company said. “But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint.”</blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/mcmblQ1Eyg">pic.twitter.com/mcmblQ1Eyg</a></p>&mdash; reptile (@reptilehah) <a href="https://twitter.com/reptilehah/status/912832455421259776">September 27, 2017</a></blockquote>

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1 Comment/s
Anonymous No. 8754 2017-09-27 : 06:25

Gab must be having an affect on the their market share.

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