Elon Musk Hints at Plans to Increase Character Limit for Tweets in Response to Twitter User

Twitter originally had a 140-character limit for tweets, which was expanded to 280 characters in 2017.

By Gadgets 360 Staff With Inputs From ANI | Updated: 29 November 2022 18:59 IST

Elon Musk Hints at Plans to Increase Character Limit for Tweets in Response to Twitter User

Photo Credit: Facebook/ Twitter

Twitter originally had a 140-character limit for tweets

Highlights

Elon Musk had teased long form tweet earlier
Twitter is one of the only social platforms to limit characters
Twitter is also working on encrypted direct messages, payment services

Twitter could expand its character limit from 280, according to a tweet by new owner Elon Musk. The world's richest man and Twitter's new CEO responded to a user on the microblogging platform requesting the higher character limit, stating that it was part of the company's plan. Twitter is also working on adding encrypted direct messages (DMs), and payment services, according a set of slides recently shared by Musk on Twitter. However, it is currently unclear whether the increased character limit will be the same as the longform tweet feature teased by the company's CEO.

On Monday, Musk responded to a Twitter user asking him to expand the 280-character limit for on tweets on Twitter to 1,000 characters. Musk responded, stating :It's on the todo list."

It's on the todo list
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Twitter, which is referred to as a "microblogging service", originally had a 140-character limit for tweets, which was expanded to 280 characters in 2017. At the time, the company's blog stated that "many people Tweeted the full 280 limit because it was new and novel, but soon after behaviour normalised...We saw when people needed to use more than 140 characters, they Tweeted more easily and more often."

The platform is one of the few services that limits users' posts to a few hundred characters. Rival Facebook allow users to upload posts with thousands of characters.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

Musk has shown interest in the idea of increasing the character limit on a number of occasions since his takeover of the platform, as per a report by Mashable.

On November 27, a Twitter user suggested to Musk to increase the platform's word limit from 280 to 420. "Good idea" Musk wrote in response.

Prior to that, another user had suggested "get rid of character limits," to which Musk responded: "Absolutely".

WhatsApp Numbers of 500 Million Users Up for Sale, Twitter User Data Leaked

Musk recently announced another major change for the platform with its multi-coloured verification system. A new three-coloured verification check mark system would replace the previous 'Twitter Blue' service which had to be pulled off within days of its release due to rising number of accounts impersonating well-known brands and personalities while carrying the 'verified' check. The new Twitter Blue verification service will tentatively be relaunched on December 2, according to Musk.

Twitter Working on Encrypted DMs, Longform Tweets, Payments, Musk Says

Are the gaming-centric Asus ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro worth the price jump? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.