As of November 7, Twitter increased their word count maximum from 140 to 280 words. It seems to have been received with some mixed signals. Some people think this is a great thing seeing as they have more that they want to say and sometimes 140 words isn't enough. On the flip side some people think this is a terrible idea, because it is taking away from what Twitter previously was, which was simple quick blurbs. There were no long posts or rants that took forever to read through. People were also critical of this new change because they thought that it was a distraction from what they believe is a bigger issue on Twitter. Twitter has gotten a lot of heat and has become a place that is a breeding ground for cyber-bulling and harassment. People believe that there is not enough focus on handling those issues.
What I found very interesting and important to think about is that the largest group that liked this idea and wanted this change was the media. The media is a huge influence on everything we see and if they think that a larger word count would be more beneficial then they will have no problem saying so and trying to convince the public. Overall words are powerful and the addition of the word count may not seem like a big thing, but it can have a huge impact on how Twitter users effectively use the site.
For more information you can read this article
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/07/twitter-officially-expands-its-character-count-to-280-starting-today/
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ReplyDeleteHey Cassidy! I love your post, it's important to be aware of major platforms like twitter making changes like this - and just as you pointed out, it's important to understand the background of proponents for these changes. If the media tries to create a social change by advocating for a media platform to do something different, then I would be very hesitant to believe it's all good hearted considering the media has their own agenda to push. Additionally, you're totally right. This would take away from what Twitter was originally suppose to be. This was a really good post Cassidy!
ReplyDeleteAlso, check out in our class Brian Ingram's blog, he also did a post on this 280 character tweet increase.
Hi Cassidy,
ReplyDeleteI think your post hits the nail on the head-- Twitter's increase in characters can take away from the purpose of allowing it to keep things "short and sweet", per-say. A 280 word count is pretty significant-- and I feel like that takes away from the purpose of twitter.