I’m a wordy girl. So, when I’m on Twitter – and I love Twitter – it’s often difficult for me to make coherent, nuanced points in 140 characters. Why just the other day, someone said I was “flooding” their notifications, and I thought to myself There’s no way for me NOT to! 140 characters just isn’t enough! Well, it looks like the Twitter Gods have heard my cries, because Twitter is now working on a 10,000-character limit for tweets.
10,000 characters is already the limit on their Direct Message service, so they’d pretty much just be applying that to tweets, too. While there’s no official release date yet, re/code reports that they’re aiming for a Q1 release. What they’re testing now is a version where your feed still looks exactly the same and displays 140 characters, but then there’s some kind of “call to action” link you can click on alerting you to more content, which would expand the tweet.
Their goal seems to be to allow users (ahem, like me) who require more space for their content to have that, while also keeping the streamlined feed users are used to. This should also keep notifications from any single user, from “flooding” someone else. There have long been services like TwitLonger that allow you to lengthen your tweets, so it’s about time that Twitter recognized this was something they need to do internally.
Of course, not everyone is thrilled about the changes, which to some seem less about giving users what they want and need, and more about chasing Facebook’s success. The Guardian reports that Twitter shares have fallen 2% since the news broke.
As someone who uses both Twitter and Facebook, I can say that I use both services very differently, and I don’t need one to be like the other. I use Facebook more like a scrapbook. A record of memories, and a way to communicate with people I actually know in person IRL, with the occasional political debate thrown in for good measure. Twitter, on the other hand, is best for in-the-moment, one-on-one conversations with a broader audience.
Facebook helps you stay in touch with people you know. Twitter helps you get to know people you don’t. Facebook is insular. Twitter is expansive, and can help you plug into movements and national moments. In many ways, I think Facebook could stand to be more like Twitter. If Twitter were really smart, they’d think about that as they try to grow their base. People who use Twitter like talking to strangers and want to be able to do that more easily.
Or maybe we should all just be on Instagram or Snapchat?
What do you think? Would you welcome a Twitter that allowed for longer tweets? What do you prefer about each service (or what makes you forgo them)? Inquiring minds in the comments below want to know!
(Image via Rosaura Ochoa/Flickr)
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