Twitter Is Going All In

On 10,000 Characters

The internet broke today when the CEO of Twitter announced that dev would be expanding Twitter’s functionalities to test 10,000 character tweets — alarming those who had honored the noble tradition of 140 for so long. I thought it was a hoax for a few morning hours until I saw Jack’s tweet.

Twitter has a strong product that has stood the test of time. Nobody objects to that. But with a lack of strong leadership for the future of Twitter, a lack of innovative product enhancements (Moments, eh?), and — most importantly — a foolproof effort to monetize, their stock has plummeted since the advent of their IPO, making me an unhappy investor in TWTR.

Now, here’s where things get interesting.

I’ve long debated with my colleagues over the imminent death of the webpage and the press release. Some would even argue that the press releases died 5 years ago leaving us with just “email” proper (I agree). Younger journalists are turning towards Twitter as a hot-zone for news.

But what we’re seeing here is a bold leap towards murder on both accounts.

What if you no longer had to trawl through your Outlook Groups to send a newsworthy email to a large audience, who are statistically flocking to social media? (fundraising should still stick to email) What if you didn’t have worry about your messy CMS anymore and could just post your press release, article, argument, thought, op-ed, you name it to Twitter?

The internet is going to see a huge change in the next 1–3 years, as barriers disappear from indexing and mobile/desktop apps become indistinguishable from websites and other content. The medium (ironically) is slowly erasing OR better yet, it is converging.

In a bold move, Jack and Twitter seem intent on betting all their chips on Twitter destroying the traditional web structure and taking on all roles — making Twitter the end-all for content.

I usually spend some time discussing the ethics of these things, but this is too new for me. For now, I think this big move shows strong leadership (albeit risky) from Twitter, a key indicator of their moral investment in their product. Nothing good comes without some risk.

Will it work? I think Twitter is smart enough to test the changes and make them insignificant for a while until many become accustomed to it, allaying the fears of a huge schism away to another social medium.

Seeya later. Subscribe to my newsletter!