The Verge confirmed earlier this week that some big changes are coming to Twitter in the weeks ahead. The news and opinion publication published a report yesterday that claims the social media platform is preparing to cut down on exactly which types of content count toward the platform’s 140-character limit. Beginning September 19, Media attachments such as images, GIFs, videos, polls, and quoted tweets will no longer reduce the count. Links, on the other hand, will still count for 23-characters.
Another change will be the exclusion of usernames from character counts on replies. When tweeting at or in response to another users that person’s Twitter handle will no longer count against the total number of characters allowed in a tweet.
It is unclear whether or not all these changes will happen simultaneously or if they will be spread out over a series of updates, but Twitter will at least begin the transition process next Monday.
“This is the most notable change we’ve made in recent times around conversation in particular, and around giving people the full expressiveness of the 140 characters,” CEO Jack Dorsey told The Verge in May. “I’m excited to see even more dialog because of this.”
Twitter previously considered extended the length of tweets beyond 140-characters, but the company later decided against the move. This change should satisfy those needing a bit more space without changing the way most people use/experience Twitter. We’ll bring you more news on any additional changes that may be happening as soon as more information is made available.
