Ever sat and typed a tweet, then realised you’re roughly three paragraphs over the 140-character limit, then spent 20 minutes performing mental gymnastics in order to share your opinion of the Great British Bake Off with the world. Well those days could soon be a distant memory, as Twitter have announced they’re trialling increasing the famous 140-character limit to 280. The internet as ever has reacted, so we thought we’d share some of our favourites…
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced the move on Twitter…
This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu
— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017
Not long after, Twitter user @brianrbarone was on hand to cut his tweet down to size!
https://twitter.com/brianrbarone/status/912788388150960130
American chat show host Ellen DeGeneres got in on the fun with a tweet of her own.
I’m so excited to be part of @Twitter’s #280characters rollout. Let me just say it’s an honor and a privilege. I’d like to thank my wonderf
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) September 27, 2017
Not content with the reasoning Twitter gave for the trial, @Punchayati has his own theory.
https://twitter.com/PUNchayati/status/912915669137666048
@DontforgetJames tweeted what we’re all thinking!
https://twitter.com/dontforgetjames/status/912865616695934976
What’s a Twitter storm without a good meme though?
Twitter: Users want to be able to edit tweets
Inner Twitter: Give them #280characters so they make more typos pic.twitter.com/gfLSF8ZrtL
— Dom Stirling (@DomStirling) September 26, 2017
Whatever the Twittersphere think of this move, we’re all waiting with bated breath to see how Twitter addict Donald Trump will utilise the extra 140 characters.