Twitter Expanding IT's 140 Character Limit Is Insanity

Recode- It’s unclear what the product will look like, but sources say it would enable Twitter users to publish long-form content to the service. Users can already tweet out blocks of text with products like OneShot, but those are simply images, not actual text published on Twitter. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment.

The 140-character limit has been one of Twitter’s trademark features since day one. It has long been scrutinized by those outside the company, and many have argued over the years that Twitter should expand it. It has also been a topic of discussion internally at Twitter for years, according to multiple sources, and has resurfaced in recent months under interim CEO Jack Dorsey as the company has been exploring new ways to grow its user base.

In addition to the long-form product, execs have been openly discussing the idea of tweaking how Twitter measures its 140-character limit by removing things like links and user handles from the count, multiple sources say.


Oh good, let people start writing novels on Twitter. That can't possibly clutter the timeline. The fact of the matter is that being a good follow on Twitter is all about fitting your thought, joke, or opinion into 140 characters. You want fully formulated thoughts and complete sentences then go start a blog asshole. No one has time for paragraph long diatribes about nothing. That's what Facebook is for. I don't even understand what kind of person would want this to happen. Don't people realize that with the narcissistic need to say every single thing that comes to their brain in one post comes the ability for every one else they follow to do the very same thing. If I have to shorten some words and leave out some punctuation to fit some meaningless, half-witted stupidity into a 140 characters then I will gladly do so just to avoid having to scroll through everyone else's long winded bullshit. 

You give people an inch and they'll take an inch. You give 'em a mile and they'll write so much nauseating crap that it will make you want to deactivate your account. You can't expect people to know how much is too much. That's the same reason why this country has such goddamn problem with obesity. Instituting a character limit is not only what makes Twitter, Twitter, but it's the smartest aspect of Twitter. They differentiated themselves from all other forms of social media. Sure, maybe someone can't fit their punchline in before the words turn red, but that very same person probably won't have room to put the finishing touches on that undoubtedly racist thought that just popped into their head. The shorter the tweet, the smaller the chance that people can make an ass out of themselves. The people that have truly "enlightening" things to say know how to do so in a concise manner. It's the people that are too stupid to regulate their word choice that need more space to type, and the last thing that dumb people in 2015 need is a bigger platform.