More Twitter To Love Or Hate?

January 11, 2016
Written by Kim Zimmermann
Published in Blog

1blogtwtter Twitter is considering upping its character limit from 140 to 10,000, a move that has sparked a heated debate. Some think it will ruin the social media platform, while others think the change is long overdue.

I’m of the opinion that Twitter is changing, but it isn’t the earth-shattering change that many are making it out to be. Currently, B2B marketers use Twitter to tease E-books, blog posts, webinars or other lead gen content. No one really expects to read an entire E-book on their Twitter feed, and by most accounts, that isn’t going to change. The new design is expected to offer a “click to read more” option.

Many find the 140-character constraints difficult to adhere to — even Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey couldn’t abide by the limit when discussing the potential changes. It takes effort to whittle down your thoughts into a succinct message. As Mark Twain reportedly once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

But brevity is part of what makes Twitter such an engaging platform. B2B marketers are forced to capture your attention and convey a complex concept in just a few words. That can occasionally inspire some confusing and amusing abbreviations, but it generally works.

Personally, I like the ability to scroll through Twitter for content that is of interest, then click on the link to get the full article, E-book or whatever content, if I’m inspired to read more.

In a blog post, The Wall Street Journal said the character limit “could transform Twitter into more of a public blogging platform rather than one that is succinct and well-suited to quips and breaking news headlines.” I don’t think that that would be such a bad thing, but I would argue that the transformation is already happening through links and hashtags.

Share your thoughts with me on Twitter, or LinkedIn, or whatever social media platform you prefer!