Twitter tipped to increase 140 character limit to accommodate adverts after stock flotation
Twitter is tipped to increase its famed 140-character limit to accommodate advertisers once it floats on the stock market, according to US financial analysts.
"It's inevitable they will loosen that 140-character limit"
The company has filed its papers ahead of its stock market flotation, expected to raise $1 billion.
The chief executive of financial information provider PrivCo, Sam Hamadeh, pointed out that Google and Facebook have increased advertising on their sites.
"Once it's a public company, it has very demanding stockholders to meet and missing earnings or growth slowing - Wall Street has no mercy," Mr Hamadeh said.
"And so you can bet they will punish Twitter for any misses and I think it's inevitable they will loosen that 140-character limit. It's not a sacred cow.
"They're very short messages, very concise but for an advertising vehicle it doesn't allow advertisers much room to really sell their wares."
Advanced Human Technologies chairman Ross Dawson agreed.
"For example, television networks; Twitter can facilitate both the information and the engagement with other forms of media and other forms of advertising," he said.
"So once they extend beyond being able to extend the right messages to the right people as Facebook are doing, they could continue to generate revenue - although that will be a challenge."