Twitter is making some big changes, at least in the context of 140 characters or fewer.
The social media service on Tuesday said that in coming months, photos, videos and other media would not count toward Twitter’s 140-character limit. Now, for example, when a user posts a photo, it counts for about 24 characters.
That means slightly more wordy tweets are on the way.
The change is yet another attempt by the San Francisco company to make its messaging service easier to use and to attract new users.
CHARACTER LIMIT
Twitter did not, as many had speculated in recent months, abolish its character limit. Nor are Web links exempt from the 140-character limit, which was also rumored.
However, replies to another user, which start with the “@” symbol and the user’s name, will not count against character limits. Names with the @ symbol in the middle of a tweet will still count against the limit.
In addition, people will be able to retweet and quote their own tweets.
In another change, any new tweet beginning with an @name will be seen by all followers. Previously, a tweet that started with a person’s handle did not become part of their feed. If a user wanted this to happen, they had to put a period before the @ symbol.
Confusing? Some users thought so.
Twitter has tried to keep all users happy, those for and against relaxing character limits, by sticking to the current count, while allowing more freedom to express thoughts, or rants, through images and other media.
Above all, Twitter hopes that the changes will reignite user growth.
The company, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday, is dwarfed by its rival, Facebook. Its current number of users, about 310 million, trails even the professional networking service LinkedIn.
GROWTH DRIVER?
Facebook has 1.65 billion users. Even though many people are familiar with Twitter — at least that it exists — the company has been unable to convert them to active users. Twitter remains hard to understand for many, with its own lingo of hashtags and symbols.
The changes announced on Tuesday are the latest put in place with hopes of spurring growth.
“It’s a very user friendly change and it’s about time,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
While he said the changes are not likely to bring back users who have abandoned the site, new users might be less alienated.
Abandoning the 140-character limit altogether would be going too far, he added.
“They want to be purists and stick to the original vision,” he said. “Baby steps. Let’s start with that.”
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