Many questions concerning the recent update about twitter expanding to 280 characters are already popping up and it's already concerning an uproar, to some it's a nice development.
What can you say in 280 characters that you couldn't in 140?
The world's going to have to figure that out now that Twitter has signaled it will expand its infamous limit to just how many letters, numbers, spaces, punctuation, and emoji you're allowed to fit into a tweet. Technically, the change is just a test at this point, seeded to a few (lucky?) users, but such a fundamental change to the service was big news, and any backtracking at this point would not be a good look for Twitter. So it seems likely that, going forward, 280 is the new 140.
The inevitable jokes and rage ensued, and have mostly continued in the first 24 hours since the announcement. There's even a secret, though straightforward way, to get on the 280 train early, if you wish. But as the initial reaction dies down, and the new supersize tweets take hold, what does the picture of Twitter look like, and how attractive will it be to its users, both new and existing?
That's surely the question Twitter is deeply considering as it moves forward with this change. And it answers the question of why the company's doing it better than the pragmatic reasoning the company outlined in a blog post.
The company line on the change is that, since languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese tend to need fewer characters to express the same thought than you'd need in English or other Roman alphabet-based languages, there isn't really an even playing field on expression in the Twitterverse. But, on paper, the same goal would be served either by doubling the limit for Roman languages or halving it for certain Asian ones.
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