Good things come in small packages. Or, at least that’s the phrase that ‘diminutive’ people like me regularly trot out.
It’s something that Twitter would ascribe to, as a platform that relies on a lot of attention being given to a series of ‘small packages’. Yet now, as you’ve all undoubtedly noticed, the social media platform has doubled its 140-character limit for all of its 300 million-plus users (after a trial with a select few).
While some will celebrate the extra breathing space the new Twitter character limit allows, others fear it could spoil one of the key features of the platform. Someone has even created a Chrome extension so that refuseniks can stick to a timeline populated with 140-character messages.
Personally, I’m no fan. Indeed, these tweets reflect my views on the move:
Best of all, when the trial was announced – by Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey – journalist Caitlin Kelly showed him how to trim his post back down to within the 140-character limit.
Still, regardless of my views, there are two issues with the new 280 Twitter character limit that marketers need to be aware of.
Like it or not, the new limit is here to stay and it’d be wrong to ignore that some good things could come from this. Many people have, admittedly, found fun and creative ways to use the new space and it might well help brands to have a little more space to @ more people, slot in more hashtags or maybe even naturally deploy keywords in order to enhance the conversations they have with their audience and expand the potential reach of their social media messages.
It is, however, important not to overdo it – or lose the art of brevity – if you’re to continue to reap the rewards to be had from social media marketing.
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