Twitter Removing 140-Character Limit In July — For Direct Messages, At Least
Twitter is making some changes, and it has to do with its 140-character limit, but don’t get too excited just yet. The main way of tweeting things is staying the same, but the limit is going to be taken off for Direct Messages, and actually allow people to converse privately with one another in easier ways.
According to AdAge, the change is coming to the San Francisco-based company sometime in July. Twitter is going to allow private messaging to be a bit more talkative and free flowing since it won’t clog up the regular feed.
Via Twitter, of course, Sachin Agarwal, the product manager for Direct Message has made sure to differentiate between the two.
“We’ve done a lot to improve Direct Messages over the past year and have much more exciting work on the horizon. You may be wondering what this means for the public side of Twitter. Nothing! Tweets will continue to be the 140 characters they are today.”
Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo is stepping down from the company in July so it’s an interesting time for the big change to be coming. There is some confusion as to what may possibly be happening in the future of Twitter, but they’re making it seem as if all is going to be fine going forward.
Twitter did recommend a few steps in preparation for the big Direct Message change coming next month.
- Review the new API additions below.
- Update your GET requests so you will be able to receive the full length of DM text.
- Adjust your app UI to accommodate longer DM text.
The social media giant strongly recommends that these changes be tested and deployed early on and before the official change. While the longer Direct Messages won’t be able to be sent until July, Twitter wants everyone to be ready.
As the site with over 300 million active users moves onward, it had a posted revenue of $1.4 billion in 2014, but there is still talk of a major takeover. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, will be taking the role of interim CEO as things get shaken up.
There have been rumors of a Twitter takeover for some time now, but nothing has ever come of it. In the past couple of months, they’ve done nothing but continue and since they aren’t disappearing, that means there is something to them. Twitter may be trying to take the public focus off its troubles with the Direct Messages losing their 140-character limit, but it will only work for so long.
[Image via AdWeek]
