I have to admit, Twitter’s new 280 character limit is throwing me for a loop! I’ve gotten so used to cutting down what I want to say to just the bare bones, that the new increased character limit has me second guessing every Tweet. I think Josh Groban says it best:
We have all been masters of twitter until this day and it’s hilarious uruegehehegeheudhdbdbfnfndbdndjxbdbsbsjsjshsbsbsjsidishsbsvsvdjdkdkdjdjejdbsvsvsgshdudjdkfkdndbdndkdndbdbdjdjdjdjshsvdueueuehebdbdvedudjdbdbdbdbdiehdbdbdbdbd dvdjejeidjdhdvegehehehehebebdkfndndndndjeiejebrhehe
— josh groban (@joshgroban) November 7, 2017
I don’t think I’ll use the full 280 characters very often. Brevity has always been the lifeblood of Twitter. In just a few minutes, you can get an overview of what’s happening in the world, and what people think about it. Twitter is the Cliff Notes version of what’s happening in the world.
That being said, I do love the creative ways Twitter Users are all the extra space.
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* . ?️ . ✨ *
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Thanks @Twitter, we can
always use more space ?
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* ☄️#280characters— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) November 8, 2017
There’s a lot of opposition to the new Twitter character limit, many people are afraid this will destroy the core of what makes Twitter work.
Twitter’s destroyed its USP. The whole point, for me, was how inventive people could be within that concise framework. #Twitter280characters
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 8, 2017
So far, aside from a few, over the top, posts I haven’t really noticed the change. Twitter users are still staying concise. In a recent blog post by Twitter about the 280 character limit, they showed that only 5% of users were going over the old standard of 140 characters.
So what should you do with the new character limit?
- I suggest only using as many characters as you need. It may be tempting to fill the empty space with hashtags, more details, but I find on Twitter, you only have a moment to capture your reader’s attention. If they see a wall of text, they might not bother to read it.
- Start adding some punctuation… Commas, periods, and apostrophes welcome to Twitter!
- Have some fun!
What do you think of the new 280 character limit? Will it change the way you Tweet?
What do you think of the new character limit?#280charcters pic.twitter.com/rDKERgMq5n
— Vireo Media (@VireoMedia) November 9, 2017