Twitter trialling 280-character tweets

Twitter is trialling increasing its character limits for tweets from 140 to 280.


The 140-character limit for posts is what has long differentiated Twitter from other social media channels. But now, Twitter has announced that it is trialling doubling the upper character limit for tweets to 280.

In a blog post, Aliza Rosen, product manager at Twitter, explained: "We tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief constraint.

"We are excited to share this today and we will keep you posted about what we see and what comes next."

The thinking behind this move is that it enables people communicating in all languages to be able to say what they want via the platform without quite as much character restraint. People tweeting in English, for instance, often have to cut down their posts to fit the limit, whereas the average character usage for tweets written in Japanese is just 15.

Although only a trial for now, this move means that brands using Twitter could be able to better tailor their posts to audiences from different parts of the world. Yet by keeping the character limit relatively succinct in comparison to other social networks, Twitter should still keep the brevity factor that many users love.

Topics

Related content

Twitter logo on abstract Upfronts background

Twitter’s Digital Upfront: what we learnt

Learn more

COP26: How are digital platforms tackling climate change?

Learn more

Twitter x Digital Upfronts: 10 things we learnt

Learn more

‘Dark social’ accounts for two-thirds of political content shared

Learn more

Rediscover the joy of digital advertising

Champion connections instead of clicks. Capture audiences' imaginations, not just their attention. Boldly find your own beat instead of letting tech set the pace. It’s time to rediscover the joy of digital.

IAB UK Chatbot

Close Chat

Hi, I'm NORI

As the IAB’s AI-powered chatbot, I’m here to help IAB members understand everything about the world of digital advertising. You must be an IAB member to ask a question. To get started, either log into your account or create one below.

Are you sure you want to clear your chat history?

No
IAB chatbot icon