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I believe Twitter had to restrict status updates to 140 characters not due to usernames but instead due to the fact that SMS messages are 160 septets (1120 bits

by DHowett 14y ago

I believe Twitter had to restrict status updates to 140 characters not due to usernames but instead due to the fact that SMS messages are 160 septets (1120 bits, or 140 8-bit characters) not 160 8-bit characters.

seiji 14y ago
That's an extremely fancy way of saying SMS was created with a focus on 7-bit characters.
laacz 14y ago
Also, short messages cannot contain symbols outsids ASCII (actually - 7bit ASCII), while twitter is 100% unicode.