Twitter Ditching Its 140-Character Limit? Social Media Platform Considers 10,000 Characters Per Tweet

A report from Re/code claimed that Twitter is ditching its 140-character limit for 10,000 characters per tweet.

According to Re/code's multiple sources with knowledge of the company's plans, the new feature will roll out in the end of Q1. The 10,000-character limit for tweets is the same feature already utilized by Twitter for its Direct Messages product.

The news outlet's sources didn't reveal an official release date. However, it's also likely that the character limit "could fluctuate before it rolls out the final product, which people inside Twitter refer to as 'Beyond 140,'" Re/code noted.

Re/code first reported about Twitter's longer tweet feature in September. A spokesperson from the social media platform refused to comment on the matter.

As expected, complaints from hardcore Twitter users erupted upon news of the longer tweets feature broke out. This reception is highly expected, given that the same outrage was also present when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey released new features, including the Moments news curation feature and the new format for retweets, Fortune pointed out.

According to Fortune, "it's not that Twitter simply doesn't care about its core users," but those users are "no longer of much help to the company, unless they significantly increase their engagement," which appears to be implausible. Twitter needs plenty of new users and for them to stay longer on the platform by interacting with tweets and ads.

Fortune wrote that "an expanded Twitter seems much more likely to consist of a standard-looking message with a 'click for more' link that takes users to a separate page." With this, it seems that Twitter is trying to appear more like Medium, the blogging platform founded by former Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams.

Aside from the lengthy think pieces it is known for, Medium has also added support for shorter messages to cover the same territory currently occupied by Twitter, the news outlet noted.

In December, it was also reported that Twitter is trying the idea of changing its reverse chronological timeline, which is another core feature of the platform, Re/code wrote. Currently, Twitter is already displaying something similar with its "while you were away" feature that showcases top tweets since the last time you accessed the app.

Re/code's source revealed that design aspect has a huge impact. Making tweets larger by adding more content or bigger photos has lessened user engagement in the past. This is not surprising; if tweets take a long time to load or consume more screen space, it's likely that users will engage less.