Twitter has shown its intent to be more competitive with the plethora of popular instant messaging apps by removing the biggest obstacle; it’s own desire to stick to convention.
The social network has announced it is dropping the totally unnecessary 140-character limit for direct messages.
Now there’s no limit (within reason) to the length of chat messages, meaning users can use it in much the same way they would Facebook Messenger, Skype or WhatsApp.
In a post on the company’s official blog, Product Manager Sachin Agarwal wrote: “If you’ve checked your Direct Messages today, you may have noticed that something’s missing: the limitation of 140 characters.
“Today’s change is another big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun.”
Agarwal says the company decision hopes more users will choose direct messages to chat about the events that unfold on Twitter.
The change is rolling out from today on Android, iOS, Twitter.com, TweetDeck and Twitter for Mac and will arrive over the next few weeks.
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As for freeing tweets itself from the much more necessary 140-character limit? Well, that ain’t happening.
“You may be wondering what this means for the public side of Twitter. In a word, nothing. Tweets will continue to be the 140 characters they are today, rich with commentary as well as photos, videos, links, Vines, gifs, and emoji. So, start working on those sonnets,” Agarwal said.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.