Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey indicates controversial character limit change may be reversed
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has indicated that some controversial updates to the micro-blogging platform may be reversed by tweeting: ‘A few steps forward, some back’.
The intervention follows a backlash against how changes to @replies between users are displayed, principally by increasing the defacto character limit in tweets directed at specific people by no longer counting their username amongst the 140 characters.
Rolling out today: use all 140 characters for replies, and a cleaner focus on the text of a conversation instead of addressing syntax https://t.co/qAHQy1UtWu
— jack (@jack) March 30, 2017
Some critics had railed against this however, claiming that the manner in which the change had been implemented made it difficult to identify the intended recipient of the tweet.
This saw Dorsey reach out to the likes of BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner who labeled the change ‘stupid’ by stating: “Appreciate the passion. We're working hard & fast. Lots of trade-offs. Some we'll get right, others wrong (& will fix).”
Precisely what form these fixes might take remains unspecified at this point.