Twitter Lifts Character Limit in Tweets with Photos, Videos, Gifs
Twitter has finally loosened the reigns on their 140 character limit. Now, users can tweet photos, videos, gifs, polls and quotes without it counting towards the limit.
In regards to one update, Twitter said, “This will make having conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group.” Time reported that each media attachment “used to take up 23 characters in any given tweet,” which is about 16 percent of each tweet.
Say more about what’s happening! Rolling out now: photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and Quote Tweets no longer count toward your 140 characters. pic.twitter.com/I9pUC0NdZC
— Twitter (@twitter) September 19, 2016
Twitter first announced the update in May, announcing that @name replies and media attachments would no longer use up valuable space. The company also announced at the time that users could retweet and quote themselves and that tweets beginning with a username no longer need to be formatted as “.@name.” Their announcement left people wondering when the updates would be implemented, and The Verge first confirmed the date as Sept. 19.
Last summer, Twitter lifted its character count for direct messages from 140 characters to 10,000 characters. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey previously hinted to the same character limit on tweets in an effort to boost user growth, but earlier this year praised the limit as a “beautiful constraint.”
Social Media Reacts to Twitter’s Character Limit Update
.@twitter will no longer count photos, videos, GIFs, polls, or quote tweets in the 140 character limit for tweets pic.twitter.com/roZMwlqbWr
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) September 19, 2016
Hey @twitter, we’re so excited that media doesnt count against the character limit anymore, that we’re writing more here just because we can pic.twitter.com/J0Ck3DJ4hX
— NYSE (@NYSE) September 20, 2016
To Twitter! For changing things so that gifs, links and pictures don’t count in character totals and I’m less likely to run out of characte pic.twitter.com/lnGXt33Y9P
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) September 20, 2016
How we feel about the twitter character limit changes… #BuzzSocial pic.twitter.com/9e9yLIMau9
— WeAreBuzz (@BuzzinSocial) September 20, 2016
We’re a little bit too excited that this GIF isn’t eating in to our 140 character limit. Thanks to the Twitter update. ✨ #smm #twitter pic.twitter.com/XNrXSFvuv6
— Glass Digital Media (@GlassDigital) September 20, 2016
Uploaded this image and it didn’t count toward my character limit! @Twitter just lifted the 140 limit! #SocialMediaMarketing #charactercount pic.twitter.com/0uAf2lfjUO
— Ian Archbold (@Iandarchbold) September 20, 2016
OH MY GOSH. Images/GIFs officially don’t count toward the 140 character limit on Twitter Social media managers, rejoice! pic.twitter.com/0nvSxZsMmX
— Moe Genore (@moegenore) September 20, 2016
So photos no longer count against 140-character limit on @twitter? pic.twitter.com/6xdWIuqSXL
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) September 20, 2016
.@twitter‘s new character limit update is so great. You can just go on and on and on and OH, we might just add an image to that too #guilty pic.twitter.com/eNVLuyZMm2
— Fifty Digital (@FiftyDigital) September 20, 2016
Now photos, videos, GIFs, polls or quote tweets don’t count against the 140 character limit on Twitter. Nice. pic.twitter.com/bfEYtAY7NU
— Tatiana MUFC (@TatianaMUFC) September 20, 2016
Do you think Twitter’s decision to lift the character limit is a good idea? Sound off in the comments section below!
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