Twitter May Extend Its 140-Character Limit — In A Good Way

If Twitter is synonymous with anything other than that little blue bird logo, it's the social network's 140-character limit for posts. But that may be about to change. Since January, rumors have been building that Twitter would begin allowing posts longer than 140 characters. While that change hasn't happened yet, it looks like the platform is getting one step closer to making this a reality. Bloomberg reports that Twitter may no longer count photos and links towards its tweet character limit. While this news has yet to be confirmed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, he did hint towards such a change earlier this year, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

People and companies have found ways to tell stories despite Twitter's narrow character boundaries — in fact, sometimes breaking them up into 140-character chunks makes them even more compelling, in a way. Think about the viral milkshake story that enthralled the nation for a day. Josh Raby spun what turned out to be a fake tale about his evening McDonald's drive-through by posting one tweet after another. Each tweet built toward the story's climax (and its eventual disappointing conclusion). But, as last week's Instagram icon change reminded us, people don't take changes to major social networks lightly. This reported switch makes sense, though: Including photos or links in addition to the 140 characters allows for a tweet with more depth without detracting from Twitter's signature selling point — its short, to-the-point facts and opinions. Regardless, if and when Twitter does change its 140-character guidelines, expect lots of tweets arguing for or against it. #SoMeta