4 ms·

The beauty of twitter is to tweet with concise messages. I'd be disappointed if this 140 characters restriction got removed.

by ldong 10y ago

user_0001 10y ago
if you include an image the limit is 120. As a URL is some redirect service, I believe that drops the limit by 12 per url. The 140 limit is not being removed
wodenokoto 10y ago
that beauty has turned tweets into incomprehensible multitweets and images of text. what i don't understand is why they haven't built long-form notes that can be inserted into a tweet, just like images can be inserted.
- chris_wot 10y ago
  Now that is a good idea!
- mitchell209 10y ago
  I expected them to display the first 140 characters or so then have longer content expand upon tapping into the tweet once they started introducing those cards into the tweets.
- djsumdog 10y ago
  There were things like Tweet Longer, and TwitPic (before Twitter had images) and lots of other little services that built on top of Twitter. Twitter then started doing a lot of that stuff on its own and tried to kill off the other services (3rd party clients like Falcon Pro, TwitPic, etc.) What was once a beautiful ecosystem to support this interesting 140 character thing got gobbled back up by a company that realized it needed to monetize.
BinaryIdiot 10y ago
Restrictions are not always good even if the ultimate goal is concise messages. It's hard finding anyone's twitter feed nowadays where people are not getting around the character limit by including screenshots of text. It's EVERYWHERE and it's not easily indexed to be searched. They have to increase the limit otherwise people will get tired of using the workarounds (because, let's face it, it's practically impossible to have any kind of meaningful conversation at 140 characters at a time). It won't be to 5,000 but I would be surprised if they don't eventually go up to, say, 500 max.
dominotw 10y ago
Agreed. This is a bad decision. Its always interesting to see how language and thought process changes when limited by the amount you can say. If you are going include a link then you should be penalized since links are expensive tax for the readers. Twitter's beauty was that it was easy to predict your mental tax you are going to pay for reading a tweet. Now its unpredictable.
mavrc 10y ago
I find it quite frustrating. I can easily say what I want on other platforms because I can write what I need to without worrying about every single word. Twitter makes me stop and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and finally get something that fits in 140 and makes sense for the most part after the third read if you understand me and all the context surrounding the thing I said. I suppose it's at least partially generational for me but it seems so inelegant. Like we're in a global bit shortage.
- Tenhundfeld 10y ago
  I mostly disagree. Sure, I've been frustrated at times when I can't express an idea in 140 characters, but in general, I think the limitation is a benefit. As a creator, it makes me distill my tweet to the purest essence of what I'm trying to say, and as a consumer, it lets me scan through my timeline quickly. Also, there's nothing stopping people from tweeting an idea and including a link to a blog/gist/whatever where they add more context. And if Twitter does expand the limit, I hope they do it in a way that is essentially a structured version of a link to something else. For example, keep the 140 character limit, but also let people attach a longer note – up to, say, 5000 characters, maybe with simple Markdown formatting. Support it in all official clients and give 3rd-party clients a way to support it too. I have no problem with them expanding the limit as long as I can still scroll through my timeline, seeing 140-max tweets with an option to click on one to see the expanded version, without leaving my Twitter client or loading a whole webpage. A worse option would be to just show the first 140 characters of a longer note. I think there's value in forcing people to be concise, but I also get that there's value in letting people post longer messages and keeping all of that content in-network. This long comment is ~1,360 characters.
  - newjersey 10y ago
    This discussion sorely misses people who subscribe to tweets by SMS. Here are a few from my stream. Please feel free to draw your own conclusions: @MKBHD: From this weekend... #ultimate https://t.co/1bSuvFueee/s/9EwY https://t.co/1bSuvFueee/s/9EwY m.twitter.com/MKBHD -- @woot: $134.99 : Philips BR-30 Hue Starter Pack Bonus Kit https://t.co/X5Thalnvvr/s/JR-S https://t.co/X5Thalnvvr/s/JR-S m.twitter.com/woot -- @maryjofoley: There is a new local OneDrive app for Win 10 for PCs and phones available for download. Not just for Insiders: https://t.co/25ADHBXwdY/s/KNYy https://t.co/25ADHBXwdY/s/KNYy -- @BernieSanders: All over this country, Native Americans have suffered far too much, and for far too long. They deserve a voice. https://t.co/jGqJcNuUOC/s/u4Wc https://t.co/jGqJcNuUOC/s/u4Wc -- 1/2: @maryjofoley: MS broadening Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection preview: https://t.co/TvE43LrKmZ/s/7ZJh https://t.co/TvE43LrKmZ/s/7ZJh Possibly coming by Q3: https://t.co/e5hilZu https://t.co/e5hilZu 2/2: SoJ/s/-5Fn -- 1/2: @MicrosoftOEM: RT @majornelson: Hey #SanFrancisco: I'll be there this Saturday to help open the new @Razer store. If you are in the area stop by https://t https://t 2/2: .co/InwMnkn6xh/s/IIVm --

The beauty of twitter is to tweet with concise messages. I'd be disappointed if this 140 characters restriction got removed.

by ldong 10y ago

The beauty of twitter is to tweet with concise messages. I'd be disappointed if this 140 characters restriction got removed.

user_0001 10y ago

if you include an image the limit is 120. As a URL is some redirect service, I believe that drops the limit by 12 per url. The 140 limit is not being removed

wodenokoto 10y ago

that beauty has turned tweets into incomprehensible multitweets and images of text. what i don't understand is why they haven't built long-form notes that can be inserted into a tweet, just like images can be inserted.

chris_wot 10y ago
Now that is a good idea!
mitchell209 10y ago
I expected them to display the first 140 characters or so then have longer content expand upon tapping into the tweet once they started introducing those cards into the tweets.
djsumdog 10y ago
There were things like Tweet Longer, and TwitPic (before Twitter had images) and lots of other little services that built on top of Twitter. Twitter then started doing a lot of that stuff on its own and tried to kill off the other services (3rd party clients like Falcon Pro, TwitPic, etc.) What was once a beautiful ecosystem to support this interesting 140 character thing got gobbled back up by a company that realized it needed to monetize.

BinaryIdiot 10y ago

Restrictions are not always good even if the ultimate goal is concise messages. It's hard finding anyone's twitter feed nowadays where people are not getting around the character limit by including screenshots of text. It's EVERYWHERE and it's not easily indexed to be searched. They have to increase the limit otherwise people will get tired of using the workarounds (because, let's face it, it's practically impossible to have any kind of meaningful conversation at 140 characters at a time). It won't be to 5,000 but I would be surprised if they don't eventually go up to, say, 500 max.

dominotw 10y ago

Agreed. This is a bad decision. Its always interesting to see how language and thought process changes when limited by the amount you can say. If you are going include a link then you should be penalized since links are expensive tax for the readers. Twitter's beauty was that it was easy to predict your mental tax you are going to pay for reading a tweet. Now its unpredictable.

mavrc 10y ago

I find it quite frustrating. I can easily say what I want on other platforms because I can write what I need to without worrying about every single word. Twitter makes me stop and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and finally get something that fits in 140 and makes sense for the most part after the third read if you understand me and all the context surrounding the thing I said. I suppose it's at least partially generational for me but it seems so inelegant. Like we're in a global bit shortage.

Tenhundfeld 10y ago
I mostly disagree. Sure, I've been frustrated at times when I can't express an idea in 140 characters, but in general, I think the limitation is a benefit. As a creator, it makes me distill my tweet to the purest essence of what I'm trying to say, and as a consumer, it lets me scan through my timeline quickly. Also, there's nothing stopping people from tweeting an idea and including a link to a blog/gist/whatever where they add more context. And if Twitter does expand the limit, I hope they do it in a way that is essentially a structured version of a link to something else. For example, keep the 140 character limit, but also let people attach a longer note – up to, say, 5000 characters, maybe with simple Markdown formatting. Support it in all official clients and give 3rd-party clients a way to support it too. I have no problem with them expanding the limit as long as I can still scroll through my timeline, seeing 140-max tweets with an option to click on one to see the expanded version, without leaving my Twitter client or loading a whole webpage. A worse option would be to just show the first 140 characters of a longer note. I think there's value in forcing people to be concise, but I also get that there's value in letting people post longer messages and keeping all of that content in-network. This long comment is ~1,360 characters.
- newjersey 10y ago
  This discussion sorely misses people who subscribe to tweets by SMS. Here are a few from my stream. Please feel free to draw your own conclusions: @MKBHD: From this weekend... #ultimate https://t.co/1bSuvFueee/s/9EwY https://t.co/1bSuvFueee/s/9EwY m.twitter.com/MKBHD -- @woot: $134.99 : Philips BR-30 Hue Starter Pack Bonus Kit https://t.co/X5Thalnvvr/s/JR-S https://t.co/X5Thalnvvr/s/JR-S m.twitter.com/woot -- @maryjofoley: There is a new local OneDrive app for Win 10 for PCs and phones available for download. Not just for Insiders: https://t.co/25ADHBXwdY/s/KNYy https://t.co/25ADHBXwdY/s/KNYy -- @BernieSanders: All over this country, Native Americans have suffered far too much, and for far too long. They deserve a voice. https://t.co/jGqJcNuUOC/s/u4Wc https://t.co/jGqJcNuUOC/s/u4Wc -- 1/2: @maryjofoley: MS broadening Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection preview: https://t.co/TvE43LrKmZ/s/7ZJh https://t.co/TvE43LrKmZ/s/7ZJh Possibly coming by Q3: https://t.co/e5hilZu https://t.co/e5hilZu 2/2: SoJ/s/-5Fn -- 1/2: @MicrosoftOEM: RT @majornelson: Hey #SanFrancisco: I'll be there this Saturday to help open the new @Razer store. If you are in the area stop by https://t https://t 2/2: .co/InwMnkn6xh/s/IIVm --