I remember Twitter being pitched originally as aspiring to be a messaging protocol. That's why the 140 character limit was in place: 140 character message + 20

I remember Twitter being pitched originally as aspiring to be a messaging protocol. That's why the 140 character limit was in place: 140 character message + 20 character username = the 160 character SMS limit; the lowest common denominator. A protocol probably was his original vision for the product, and it didn't turn out that way. As many in this thread have cynically pointed out, he did make a lot of money on Twitter as a company. Still, I can imagine having some regret over pivoting away from the original idea.