This is exciting news for those of us who are addicted to Twitter — and it’s long overdue.
How many times have you carefully honed a Tweet to well under 140 characters, only to have it disqualified when you add the photo or link that inspired the post?
Did that feel unfair to you? It should have. It always has to me, even though, over the years, I’ve come to accept the stricture.
Mind you, it’s not that I object to the 140-character limit itself. Far from it. I embrace it. I think it provides the necessary tension to keep Tweets lean and mean — there’s just enough room to express an idea as long as you squeeze the fat out. It’s just right. It’s like the 90 feet between bases — an inch more or less and the balance between runners and defense wouldn’t be perfect.
But when you attach a picture or a link to your carefully-honed Tweet, suddenly you’re over the limit, through no fault of your own.
In any case, this injustice is finally at an end, or about to be:
Twitter Inc. is making a major shift in how it counts characters in Tweets, giving users more freedom to compose longer messages.
The social media company will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them. The company declined to comment….
“Declined to comment?” They should be shouting the good news from the rooftops!
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