Twitter character limit to increase from 280 to 4000, Elon Musk confirms

The upcoming change has got a mixed reaction from the Twitterati.

“That would be the worst thing to happen to Twitter. It used to be 120 characters in the beginning, then it grew to 280. The point is that this short format is THE point of Twitter. It’s literally in the name of the platform. It’s ‘tweet’, not ‘fart’ or ‘vomit’”, commented one user.

“Wow…4000? I thought he stated that was going to increase the characters limit to 420 (as homage to the ‘4/20’ weed reference). Not that I mind, but 4000 characters seems to be too much for this type of short-form platform. IMHO, 420 would’ve been fine, but 500 would be ideal”, wrote another.

Some expressed their concern over Twitter becoming another Facebook if the word limit is increased to 4000. “Not another Facebook @Twitter is efficient with 280 characters. Tweets should be 240. Another textbox entity limited to 1,000 characters is fine; however, it needs to be separate. I would rather just keep the 240 and use a thread. It allows for better interjections in threads”, a user commented.

For the unaware, Twitter originally had a character limit of 140 characters. The character limit was increased to 280 in 2017. For posts longer than this, Twitter allows users to create Threads to create continuity. With the limit increased to 4000, it is likely that Twitter may put an end to Threads and users may take to writing long blogs like those on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Meanwhile, Twitter has relaunched its Twitter Blue subscription for $8 on the web version and $11 for Apple iPhone users. The subscription brings the ability to edit tweets, upload videos on 1080p resolution and blue tick for Twitter profiles.