Elon Musk indicates Twitter can soon expand or kill 280-character limit

New Twitter boss Elon Musk on Sunday indicated that the microblogging platform may soon expand or even get rid of the 280-character limit on the platform.

Responding to a user who asked if they could get rid of character limits, or at least greatly expand it, Musk said: "Absolutely". Twitter currently allows people to post in 280 characters.

Musk, who recently acquired Twitter for $44 billion after a long battle, said earlier in April that it needs long-form tweets which is "way overdue".


Reacting to a follower's tweet thread, Musk said: "My most immediate takeaway from this novella of a thread is that Twitter is way overdue for long form tweets!"

The 280-character limit was launched in November 2017 when Twitter doubled its earlier 140-character limit. Many users then argued that 280 characters would result in less readable tweets because Twitter's primary characteristic is its brevity.

However, the character limit change did not change Twitter post lengths. The company still says that Twitter will be a platform for shorter thoughts as only 1% of Tweets reach the 280-character limit, and 12% of tweets are over 140 characters.

FAQs

What was Elon Musk's takeaway from a user's tweet on Twitter?
He reacted to a user's tweet thread and wrote that his takeaway was that Twitter needs long-form tweets.

What percentage of tweets reach character limit
The company believes Twitter will be a platform for shorter thoughts as only 1% of tweets reach the 280-character limit, and 12% of tweets are over 140 characters.