The 140-character limit has been an emblem of Twitter since its birth. However, it is of recent news that it is working on a new product that will allow users to post tweets longer that 140-characters.
This latest news has garnered mixed response from twitter users. Those who felt that the character limit has stifled their creative expression in the past are generally excited about the news. However, there are a majority that are voicing out against this change through their tweets. These people may feel as though Twitter will resemble Facebook after this change, making it unoriginal.
Examples of such tweets:
http://observer.com/2015/09/twitter/
The news of this change definitely caught my attention, especially more so after having enrolled in e-marketing, where several lessons focused on the effective use of Twitter. I personally do not think the extension of the character limit is that much of a deal. It seems to me as though there are more benefits than disadvantages to this change. Twitter users will no longer have to be concise in their tweets.
I feel that change is necessary in order for Twitter to attract more users and for its own promotion amidst its other competition in the social media world.
Twitter began mainly as a SMS-based service, where the character limit is 160-characters. Twitter’s 140-character limit was inspired by this SMS limit. However, now that technology has evolved, Twitter may no longer need to stick by this SMS limit as well.