Twitter has increased the character limit from 280 to 4000 for Twitter Blue subscribers

Twitter Blue subscribers, charged $7 or $11 depending on the platform used to make the payment, can now share much longer tweets than users who settle for the free version of Twitter.

From now on, Twitter Blue payers can distribute real one-tweet essays containing links and even images or video content. Initially, Twitter limited each post to 140 characters, which is just enough to fit in a text message. That’s because Twitter posts could also be made directly from your phone in SMS format, before the advent of smartpone apps. Then the limit was doubled to 280 characters to include more information. Later, the addition of the option to insert links did not come with an exception to the character limit, with space constraints motivating users to pay attention to every tweet they wrote. In fact, for a long time, Twitter’s management was not at all interested in increasing this limit. Meanwhile the sale of the platform to entrepreneur Elon Musk, at a price considered far overpriced by most experts in the field, has been followed by a heirupist effort to reduce the costs of running the platform and maximise the profits generated.

need more than 280 characters to express yourself?

we know that lots of you do… and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. we get that.

so we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna want to check this out. tap this 👉… https://t.co/lge9udRzLE

– Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) February 8, 2023

So Elon Musk has made the long posts available only to those willing to pay for them. The only good news is that non-paying users aren’t forced to read them too, as overly long tweets are “trimmed” to the 280-character limit, with followers interested in seeing the rest of the post given the “Show more” button. As for Twitter Blue subscribers who distribute such tweets, some of them may find that their effort is not necessarily reflected in the interest of followers in the post. In other words, successive but short tweets might convey more information than a single uninteresting or simply tedious post to read all the way through.

Officially, the argument in favour of the new message format is to avoid fragmenting the information into too many individual tweets, which could also be difficult to follow, especially if followers comment randomly. Thus a single tweet detailing the information could be easier to follow, including on the comment reading side.

Also as a privilege reserved for Twitter Blue subscribers, the microblogging platform now allows sharing videos up to 60 minutes long. Not to the level of clarity found on YouTube or other video-sharing platforms.