Twitter is swiftly moving from its focus on short, snappy messages to posts that are thousands of characters in length. From the original character limit of 140, the latest limit was pushed to 4000 by CEO Elon Musk. Now, the micro-blogging platform announced that it will now be supporting tweets that are up to 10,000 characters in length. However, it is currently available only to subscribers of Twitter Blue.
“We’re making improvements to the writing and reading experience on Twitter! Starting today, Twitter now supports Tweets up to 10,000 characters in length, with bold and italic text formatting. Sign up for Twitter Blue to access these new features, and apply to enable Subscriptions on your account to earn income directly on Twitter. Tap on “Monetization” in settings to apply today,” read a tweet from Twitter Write, a Twitter-affiliated account.
We’re making improvements to the writing and reading experience on Twitter! Starting today, Twitter now supports Tweets up to 10,000 characters in length, with bold and italic text formatting.
Sign up for Twitter Blue to access these new features, and apply to enable…
— Twitter Write (@TwitterWrite) April 14, 2023
If this is not enough, the social media company is also bringing support for bold and italic text formatting – which means that users can now use bold, italics, or both, in their tweets. The increase in the character limit of the tweets departs from Twitter’s “micro-blogging” essence, though. One potential impact of this change is that it could encourage users to share longer-form content on the platform. The new character limit could open up new possibilities for longer, more detailed tweets that could be used for storytelling, sharing in-depth thoughts and opinions, or even publishing articles (something that could turn Twitter into a newsletter-like platform as well).
Additionally, this could make Twitter a more attractive platform for journalists, writers, and other content creators who may have previously felt limited by the character limit. With the ability to share longer-form content on the platform, these creators could potentially build a following on Twitter and use it as a platform to share their work. This feature could also work well with the new Subscription feature – which is basically a rebrand of its Super Follows – which enables users to charge followers a monthly fee for exclusive content, including subscriber-only chats in Spaces.
Another potential impact of the increased character limit is that it could incentivize more users to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Twitter’s premium subscription service offers several additional features, including the ability to undo tweets, organize bookmarks, and access exclusive content. By adding a significant new feature like the increased character limit to Twitter Blue, the platform may be hoping to entice more users to sign up for the service (which is something that Musk has been hedging his bets on). Introducing yet another enticing feature only to lock it behind a paywall could persuade users enough to subscribe to Twitter Blue.
