GIFs, videos, polls and quotes will no longer count as characters within tweets. Image: Shutterstock
Changes to Twitter that mean GIFs, videos, polls and quotes will no longer count as characters within tweets, allowing users to say more with their 140 characters, have begun rolling out.
This means, effectively, that media attachments won’t count towards the 140 characters, freeing up users to compose longer tweets.
The changes began rolling out last night (Monday 19 September).
The social media platform also said that it is testing changes to replies.
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
A spokesperson said that @names will also no longer count toward the 140-character count. This would give users more room to reply – possibly even in conversations with several participants – without sacrificing space to make their point.
Twitter has been promising to make changes to its limits for some time, and direct messages have not been limited since August of last year.
Twitter had been looking at creating a 10,000-character limit, but feared that this would take away from the authenticity of what the micro-blogging service is all about.
Twitter keyboard. Image: Shutterstock
