Twitter is considering to shift its famous 140-character limit all the way to 10,000 characters. This will be a big move who have for years stuck with their 140-character microblogging system.
According to the latest report from Re/Code, Twitter is said to be working on a new feature permitting users to compose a tweet longer than its usual 140 character limit. The limit will be increased to 10,000 characters, the same that Twitter uses for its Direct Messages service which was also previously limited to 140 characters.
Twitter is targeting the launch of the feature by the end of Q1 this year although its not confirmed or a strict deadline. The project internally is called ‘Beyond 140’ and has atleast been in development since last year. Part of the testing involves an interface similar to the current version displaying only upto 140 characters but with a link similar to ‘Read More’ or clicking the tweet which would show the rest of the tweet. This helps keep Twitter’s general interface to be consistent although that could change in the final product.
Twitter is also looking to curtail spam with its new expansion feature working out a plan to restrict certain elements such as limiting the number of users that can be mentioned in a tweet.
Twitter’s main challenge is to enable increased amount of content in tweets without reducing user interaction. Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey has been looking to boost growth on the site for quite some time implementing different features and techniques that had not necessarily yielded the result he wanted.
It’s important to note that the 140 character limit on Twitter is more like Twitter’s signature element and loosing that can definitely affect the overall product. Another feature that Twitter might be thinking of modifying would be the reverse chronological timeline which is another signature feature. Whether these changes will have a positive or negative effect on the site is yet to be seen.
Twitter will also have talks with its analytics and measurements partners later this month to deal with how the new change would be implemented across its platform and its partners.
