Microblogging site Twitter is testing a new feature to let some users double the number of characters allowed in a tweet. The social media service will start testing an expanded 280 character limit which is double the existing cap, in most languages around the world.
Initially, the 280 character limit will only be available to a couple of its 328 million users who will be “randomly chosen.” Jack Dorsey, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, had announced last year that the company’s famous 140 character count will not be changed. But, Twitter will be trying the newly extended limit to allow people from around the world to easily express themselves.
According to a blog post by Aliza Rosen, a Product Manager at Twitter, only 0.4% of the tweets sent in Japanese use all the 140 characters whereas 9% of the tweets sent in English use all the characters. Therefore, a small group of people will be allowed to use the extended character limit from whom data and feedback will be collected.
However, the company declined to comment on how these people will be chosen or what brought on this change of mind. The 280 character test will be rolled out in multiple languages except for Chinese, Japanese and Korean as they allow for greater expression in fewer characters. Last September, the microblogging site unveiled a new feature which no longer counted the additional media against that total number of characters including photos, videos, GIFs, and polls.
CEO Dorsey also tweeted about the update, calling the latest feature a big move which maintains their brevity, speed, and essence.
This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu
— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017
The new feature will help the company make its service more user friendly and battle disappointed user growth. 328 million people have used the site on a monthly basis in the second quarter of 2017, which was the same as their first quarter report. The company shares also took a plunge over the stagnant user growth.
Twitter does expect some backlash over the latest feature as there may be an “emotional attachment” to 140 characters. “But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint,” Aliza Rosen added on the blog.
We expected (and ❤️!) all the snark & critique for #280characters. Comes with the job. What matters now is we clearly show why this change is important, and prove to you all it’s better. Give us some time to learn and confirm (or challenge!) our ideas. https://t.co/qJrzzIluMw
— jack (@jack) September 27, 2017
