There’s a reason that some of President Trump’s tweets will start looking longer. Today, Twitter announced a change that will make anyone who feels constricted by the 140 character count very happy.
The update, which rolls out on desktop and mobile today, makes it so that when you reply to someone, the @username is excluded from your character count. So, if Chrissy Teigen ever replies to @FoxNews again, she’ll get eight extra characters to express how much she despises the network.
The change will also affect how you see conversations. You'll no longer see all the @usernames at the beginning of a conversation. Instead, those @usernames will show up in grey font above the reply, making the content of what is being said more visible and easier to quickly skim.
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If you're replying to multiple people at once you can now tap "replying to" to see which people are included in your tweet.
We're changing replies so that you have all 140 characters to express yourself.
— Twitter (@Twitter) March 30, 2017
Learn more: https://t.co/PNWGilbmVd pic.twitter.com/cxBJohZc2Q
In a blog post announcing the change, Sasank Reddy, a Twitter product manager says, "In our tests of this new experience, we found that people engage more with conversations on Twitter."
This engagement could be a very good or a very bad thing. If someone is replying with another funny Meryl meme or insightful comment, great! But, as happens too often in any online comment forum, conversations devolve into unnecessary name-calling and abuse.
So far, users are not happy with the change, with some invoking the now infamous Cristiano Ronaldo bust as a form of comparison.
@Twitter https://t.co/0GVUekjaU8
— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) March 30, 2017
@Twitter Undo this. It is a nightmare. I like to actually keep track of conversations. Why don't you want us to interact on your SOCIAL media site?
— ? Cherie Blossom ? (@cheriemorte) March 30, 2017
@Twitter so where's the edit button pic.twitter.com/OoLaLZrmfn
— XO? (@IamHR2512) March 30, 2017
@Twitter You really messed the hell out of this one. Unbelievable! Get a decent interface designer!
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) March 30, 2017
Whether or not you like the change, put your extra characters to use in a good way and, as always, make sure your reply is something that adds to the discussion in a constructive way, and doesn't just fuel an angry fire.
Related Video:
produced by Lauren Paige Magenta; appearance by Lucie Fink; produced by Lucie Fink.
This post has been updated with user reactions.