Twitter officially relaxes its 140-character limit as it continues to push its 'See What's Happening' mantra
Twitter has made a step towards banishing brevity by officially relaxing its 140-character limit. The move means that anything that isn't plain text or emoji characters will no longer count towards users' total character count in tweets – leaving more room for them to include visually rich content like images, videos and Vines.
Twitter officially relaxes its 140-character limit as it continues to push its 'What's Happening' / Twitter
Twitter confirmed that it was making the change back in May in order to make it faster and easier for people to express themselves on the platform by excluding attachments.
It announced that the changes to its once stringent limit had gone live earlier today (19 September) via a tweet, however some users may not yet have access to the privilege as it is still being rolled out.
Say more about what's happening! Rolling out now: photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and Quote Tweets no longer count toward your 140 characters. pic.twitter.com/I9pUC0NdZC
— Twitter (@twitter) September 19, 2016
Following a promise made by chief executive Jack Dorsey to "refine [Twitter's] product and make it simpler," the social network has made several attempts to streamline its core offering over the past 12 months.
The latest announcement follows on from a high-profile marketing push launched by chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, which positioned Twitter as the place to be in order to 'See What's Happening' around the world.
The company has previously treaded carefully when it comes to relaxing its character limit, with Dorsey calling the restriction "a beautiful constraint" that "inspires creativity and brevity," when Twitter was rumoured to be upping it significantly earlier this year.