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A character limit is a limit on the number of characters in a message which is used in SMS messaging and on social media platforms such as X, Mastodon, Blue Sky, GNU social, Bilibili, Pixiv, and Jejemon.
History
editThe character limit originated with SMS (Short Messaging Service) messages which had a limit of 160 characters. The idea for the 160 character limit came about in 1984, when the German engineer Friedhelm Hillebrand was sitting at his typewriter at his house in Bonn and he typed out some random sentences and questions on his typewriter, he then tallied up the total characters used (including spaces and numbers) and discovered that most messages amounted to 160 characters or less. He then argued that 160 characters were sufficient to express most messages.[1][2]
This character limit was adopted by X (then called Twitter) when the site launched in 2006, based on 160-character limit used in SMS messages. Twitter used 20 characters for the username, reserving 140 characters for the post.[3] The original limit was seen as an iconic fixture of the platform,[4][5][6] encouraging "speed and brevity".[7]
In March 2017, the character limit on Twitter was changed so that media attachments (images, GIFs, videos, polls, quote tweets) nor mentions in replies would no longer increase the character limit.[8][9][10]
In November 2017, Twitter increased it's character limit from 140 to 280 characters. The increased limit was faced with backlash from Twitter users who were concerned that they would get longer posts on their feed. Twitter assuaged people's fears by saying in a blog post that during the trial period only 5% of tweets were sent out with more than 140 characters and of those, only 2% were over 190 characters. They added that only 1% of Tweets hit the character limit after the expansion to 280, compared with 9% of Tweets historically.[11][12]
In 2023, Twitter boosted the character limit for Twitter Blue subscribers. In February, they increased it to 4000.[13][14] In April, they increased it to 10,000[15] and in June, they increased it to 25,000.[16]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Tom Jowitt (4 December 2017). "Tales In Tech History: The SMS Text Message At 25". Silicon. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Michael Ilegems (3 December 2014). "De sms bestaat 22 jaar: een terugblik". DataNews. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Harry McCracken (24 May 2016). "A Brief History Of Twitter's 140-Character Limit". Fast Company. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Bell, Carissa (26 September 2017). "Twitter is actually ditching the 140-character limit (for some)". Mashable. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Schofield, Zach (26 September 2017). "Twitter is experimenting with l-o-n-g 280-character tweets". ZDnet. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (26 September 2017). "Twitter trials expanding tweets from 140 characters to 280". TechCrunch. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Wang, Selina (26 September 2017). "Twitter to Let Some Break 140-Character Limit in Tweet Test". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (30 March 2017). "Twitter stops counting @ Replies towards its 140 characters on web and mobile". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Collins, Terry (30 March 2017). "Twitter makes more room for replies, just don't overdo it". CNET. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Newton, Casey (30 March 2017). "Twitter redesigns replies so usernames don't count against the 140-character limit". The Verge. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Natasha Lomas (27 September 2017). "So why oh why is Twitter doing #280?". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Sarah Perez (7 November 2017). "Twitter officially expands its character count to 280 starting today". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Jon Fingas (8 February 2023). "Twitter Blue users can now post tweets with up to 4,000 characters". engadget. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Nicholas Reimann (8 February 2023). "Twitter Boosts Character Limit To 4,000 For Twitter Blue Subscribers". Forbes. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Rohan Goswami (14 April 2023). "Twitter now lets its paid subscribers tweet 10,000 characters". CNBC. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ "Twitter Blue subscribers getting extended character limit for tweets". Times of India. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2024.