Now that the trial period is in full swing, let’s be honest with ourselves — 280 character tweets are going to take some time to get used to.
Toward the end of September, Twitter gave a few users the ability to utilize twice as many characters as usual in their tweets, and the results have been a mixed bag to say the least.
Some have made good use of the privilege, posting insightful thoughts with more fleshed out language. Some have crafted meaningful messages in response to tragedies and political upheaval.
But, far and away, the most popular usage of longer tweets is more memes clogging up timelines. It will take time for users to adapt to the utility provided by longer tweets and the transition to more discourse will take some time.
Longer messages have never been conducive to Twitter’s platform. The user experience is built around clear and concise messaging that can be consumed in large volumes because of their succinct nature. The experience seems similar to what a high-ranking official gets when their assistants verbally relay information to them at a high pace, in between full-fledged conversations. When those snippets become quasi-paragraphs, the effect (and the user’s attention) are lost.
Twitter built a loyal user base around shortening the attention span needed to consume content. In elongating tweets, the company works against the very trend that made it so effective in the first place.
Wired Magazine did not hold back in bashing the concept, saying “Twitter isn’t just trying out a new feature; the company is basically altering one of the last pure, long-standing rules of online culture.”
Lengthening tweets also reduce Twitter’s uniqueness. Facebook is notorious for allowing entire manifestos to be published in a post and clogging up proverbial acres of news feed real estate. The 280-character count is not nearly enough room to put together an essay, but it is enough to throw off the rhythm of the Twitter experience we have come to know.
However, it is more than likely that longer tweets are here to stay.
Twitter’s 140-character limit is based upon the SMS constraints of old technology that allowed for only 160 characters in a message, with the other 20 reserved for usernames. Obviously, that is no longer a restraint for the platform.
Jonah Baker | Argonaut
There are also considerable benefits to lengthening tweets. Longer tweets make the platform more accessible to users who are intimidated by the strict confines of 140 characters, and Twitter needs every single user it can get to generate more ad revenue since the company has never turned a profit in any sense of the word according to the Bloomberg article, “Longer Tweets are a Win for Democracy.”
There are serious arguments to be made that longer tweets would improve our political discourse. “If more Americans didn’t find Twitter limits so constraining and jumped into political debates on the platform, they might have more of an impact on public policy,” according to Bloomberg. While I understand that many would think that an increase in politicized tweets is the last thing anyone needs, Twitter does act as a public forum where there isn’t as much of a barrier between the decision makers and the general citizenry. If there is an opportunity to further the discussions between the public and its representation, we should take it, as opposed to opting for the mic drop and clapback-heavy tendencies of political conversation on Twitter today.
It is a fool’s errand to desire a perfect social networking platform, but the least we can do is be patient while Twitter works out its own kinks. The better our public forums are, the better our discourse as a society will be.
Jonah Baker can be reached at arg-opinion@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @jonahpbaker
For more information —
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-29/longer-tweets-are-a-win-for-democracy-seriously
https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-does-not-want-longer-tweets/