Twitter to increase character limit

7 January 2016 | | Blog

Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey is reportedly close to unveiling an update to the social network, which will increase the character limit from 140 to up to 10,000! What does this mean for the future of twitter? In this article we discuss the arguments both for and against the move.

Firstly, let’s discuss why users and marketers alike believe the move to be a bad idea.

  • Brevity is best.

One of the best things about Twitter is that it forces people to be brief. Every word counts, so users lose the filler.

Sure, people will still be able to post 140-charcater tweets if they wish. But in reality they won’t. Not when given the choice.

  • Twitter will lose its USP

There are plenty of social networks where you can waffle on for 10,000 characters. Of all the mainstream sites of its kind, Twitter is the only one that forces brevity. Effectively it is getting rid of the only unique selling point it has.

On the other hand, many think that the move could be a great idea:

  • Keeping a staging area at 140 characters will allow Twitter users the ability to create punchier leads into a fuller piece, much like a snappy blog title or subject line. The control over whether reading the expanded content or not is still in the hands of the reader.
  • Marketers and dental practices can use this to full effect as a new means of content creation and thought leadership rather than paying for Twitter ads which provide less engagement
  • Customer service over Twitter should improve as patients have an expanded way of articulating an issue, and dental practices have an easier way to engage to explain a solution
  • A larger limit also allows the ability to have a conversation over a topic with multiple people without their Twitter handles consuming much of the available characters as is currently.
  • More characters = more data = deeper analytics to gain insight about your audience and the ability to target your audience in a more personal way.

Our opinion? We still like the 140 character limit, yes it can be frustrating when your two characters over the limit for a ‘perfect’ tweet, but that’s all part of the fun. It seems as though all of the social networks are copying aspects from each other, rather than improving upon what they’re already good at. This is why users stop using as many platforms and inevitably end up spending most of our time on just one, so they could be digging their own grave.

If you would like further information about using social media for your dental practice, give a member of our team a call on: 01202 677 277 who will be happy to help you.

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