All users now get twice as many characters per tweet, and it’s fair to say the response has been mixed

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Twitter has officially unleashed its 280 character count to the masses.

The social media platform had originally selected only a small number of accounts to test the longer feature. However, it announced on Tuesday that it would expand the character limit from 140 characters to 280 for all of its users.



At first, sentiment seemed generally positive.



Tom Cowie (@tom_cowie) The best bit about 280 is never having to shorten whilst, amidst, and amongst ever again

NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) Now that we all have #280Characters, we expect your Twitter complaints about specific calls against your favorite teams to be calm, well-reasoned, and full of complete sentences. Thanks in advance for this positive step forward in basketball officiating-related discourse."

Stephen Lobo (@stephenlobo) I've always thought that 140 characters were too little to effectively convey ones thoughts.



And now that we have 280, am wondering whether a thought more than 140 characters is a thought worth tweeting. Or worth reading.



Still figuring out how to fill the space. Just made it.

non-spooky name (@jonkudelka) -280 character backlash

-backlash against 280 character backlash

-280 character backlash backlash backlash

-muttering

-acceptance

Although, it didn’t take long for a people to start abusing the extra breathing room.



NUFF (@nuffsaidNY) All we wanted was an edit button.

All we wanted was an edit button.

All we wanted was an edit button.

All we wanted was an edit button.

All we wanted was an edit button.

All we wanted was an edit button

All we wanted was an edit button. #280characters

Law and Order: SVU (@nbcsvu) In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories. *DUN DUN*

A bear (@A_single_bear) Things you can do with #280characters (as a bear):

-Be more detailed and thorough in lists you create to help explore bearness and the many facets of being a bear within the context of the forest and other aspects of daily bear living regarding all bearness

-Squirrel poems maybe?

New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything." #280characters https://t.co/ShAnYFOsHk

SUE the 🦖 (@SUEtheTrex) I mean, if you can’t say something in a tight two sentences, save it for your blog, you know? Maybe we should all be more conscious with our communication and spend more time focusing on the things important to us. Like dinosaurs, for instance. Anyway, that is all I wanted to say

birdsrightsactivist (@ProBirdRights) BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD

And not everyone was happy with the change.



Scott Ludlam 🌈 (@Scottludlam) you don’t have to use all 280 characters its not mandatory

Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) I have 280. With monkish restraint and self-discipline, true to the platform’s essence, I vow never to use more than half

maryy (@maryybush) 140 more chances for me to make a spelling error #280characters

PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) Your 280 character jokes are not funny ----> Mostly True. pic.twitter.com/4DcEgaZUVC

Natalie Shure (@nataliesurely) noooooo twitter look what you’ve done pic.twitter.com/4i4cZz1Oxr

Michael Slezak (@MikeySlezak) Gah. Who has time to read all these 280 character tweets. My brain has a 140 character limit now.

Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) 'Extravagant':

baroque, devilish, exorbitant, excessive, extreme, fancy, immoderate, inordinate, insane, intolerable, lavish, overdue, overextravagant, overmuch, overweening, plethoric, profligate, steep, stiff, spendthrift, thriftless, towering, unconscionable, undue, unmerciful

Matt (@nosoupforgeorge) I'd rather see a Twitterverse free of white supremacists, racists, sexists, and xenophobes than a Twitterverse of #280characters in tweets.

Despite increase in length, Twitter predicts most users will keep their tweets short and sweet.



Brevity is the soul of Twitter. We don't need 280 characters for that | Dom Knight Read more

In a blog post, the company’s product manager Aliza Rosen wrote “we – and many of you – were concerned that timelines may fill up with 280-character tweets, and people with the new limit would always use up the whole space.”

“But that didn’t happen. Only 5% of tweets sent were longer than 140 characters and only 2% were over 190 characters.”

The new limit will not apply to tweets written in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Twitter suggests this is because east Asian languages tend to be more compact, conveying almost double the amount of information within a single character.