Twitter in a recent announcement has confirmed that it will be modifying its 140-character limit to make it easier for the users to add links, attachments and some other features within the short messages.
This move is aimed at increasing the company's user base and engagement which have been raising concerns about its growth trend.
Twitter product manager, Todd Sherman has told AFP, "Over the past decade, the tweet has evolved from a simple 140-character text message to a rich canvas for creative expression featuring photos, videos, hashtags, Vines and more."
"So, you can already do a lot in a tweet, but we want you to be able to do even more. In the coming months, we'll make changes to simplify tweets, including what counts toward your 140 characters," he added.
He said that the names in replies and media attachments such as photos, videos and polls will no longer be counted in the character limit. One new feature will enable users to retweet or "quote" their own messages "when you want to share a new reflection or feel like a really good one went unnoticed."
Another change which has been made is that any new tweet beginning with an (at)name will be seen by all followers. Earlier, a tweet that started with a person's handle was not a part of their feed. But if the user wanted to use that, they had to put a period before the (at) symbol.
But many people were confused about all these. Thus, Twitter has tried to keep all its users happy, those for and against relaxing character limits, by sticking to the current count while allowing more freedom to express thoughts, or rants, through images and other media.
Todd Sherman has said that these changes would be implemented "over the coming months". The developing partners would be given the tools to enable the change on sites that use Twitter.
Facebook is among Twitter's biggest competitors whose massive user base extends over 310 million as other social networking sites have started feeling the heat of cut-throat competition.
Twitter Inc. hopes that these changes will reinforce its user growth ensuring better room for text and conversation in each tweet. People will be less frustrated as they have often been forced to edit their words in order to adopt Twitter's constraints.
