Twitter increases character limit as it stops counting usernames to encourage greater engagement
Twitter has relaxed its hallmark brevity once more revealing it will no longer count usernames towards the total 140-character limit.
Twitter increases character limit as it stops counting usernames to allow for greater expression
Writing in a blog post Twitter product manager Sasank Reddy said the social network hoped the move would let users better express themselves.
The update means @ replies will no longer occupy space in a user's tweet, making it easier to @ or reply to several people at once without running out of space.
"The updates we’re making today are based on feedback from all of you as well as research and experimentation. In our tests of this new experience, we found that people engage more with conversations on Twitter," Reddy wrote.
Twitter has also tweaked some design features to help encourage engagement and simplify conversations including having usernames appear above posts rather than within them.
Last September Twitter officially pared back on its strict character count by discarding anything that wasn't plain text or emoji from its limit, leaving more room for users to include visually rich content like images and videos in their updates.
When current Twitter chief Jack Dorsey returned to the helm of the company he promised to refine the platform's core product and make it simpler.
Following rumours last year that Twitter was poised to change its character count from 140 to 10,000 Dorsey was careful to defend the site's restriction as "a beautiful constraint" which "inspires creativity and brevity".