Twitter: Four Best Things to Do with Your Extra 140 Characters
Carol Stephen — November 25, 2017 — November 25, 2017
Recently, Twitter doubled the number of characters users could have in a tweet. Previously, we had to use clever ways to get around the 140-character limit. With 280 characters, people don’t need to resort to screenshots with extra words. And the larger character limit allows new Twitter users to join, as outlined in this article Twitter officially expands its character count to 280 starting today by Tech Crunch.
Here, then are some ideas for what to do with your extra 140.
Hashtags
Usually, only 1-2 hashtags (maximum) were thought to be the best number for a tweet. So if you really love hashtags, you can now add another one. I wouldn’t go too far overboard, though. They still seem messy, and all the studies indicate that 1-2 hashtags are the correct number. Any more than that, and you’ll lose reach. By the way, here’s an article about hashtags you might like: How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag.
Give Credit
This one is my favorite. Give credit to the author of an article or to the photographer if you share a picture with your tweet. Often, you can find the photographer’s name in an article, immediately under a photo. The writer would also appreciate being mentioned. Sometimes people retweet my work, and I don’t realize unless I search on the exact title of an article! After all, being social and paying it forward is the thing to do on social media, isn’t it?
Just because you have the space doesn’t mean you have to use all of it. The key is to know when to stop talking and start listening. #tsomedia https://t.co/bBmd8U9MO2
— Robert Nissenbaum (@RNissenbaum) November 13, 2017
Leave it!
As my friend Robert Nissenbaum says, you can stop talking and start listening! White space is a great concept. Like the silence between notes in a song, silence is useful. You don’t have to use every single space.
Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
Having a limited number of characters can make us better writers. Although, to be fair, we still have a limit. Will we see bloated tweets on Twitter, as this article that 280 Characters Ruins Twitter from Lance Ulunoff states? Or will people opt for shorter tweets, despite having the longer limit?
Is Less More?
Personally, I’m a fan of the shorter tweet. How about you?
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