Twitter is reportedly going to implement some big changes to the 140-character limit that has been part of the service since it started back in July 2006.
If this holds true, photos and links won't be counted in the restriction of the social media platform, essentially expanding the maximum text allowed on tweets.
Links currently eat up 23 characters regardless of their length since Twitter automatically shortens any URL. Aside from the obvious reason of making it fit better in a tweet, the service wraps the internet address to help users steer clear of dangerous malware-spreading websites and keep track of how many times it's clicked. Meanwhile, photos are worth 20 characters.
The news comes from Bloomberg, and it's one of the most recent talks about the character restraint of Twitter that's making rounds.
Coming in fairly hot on the heels of this development is Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey saying in January that the company was in search of new ways to present text, thinking about expanding the cap to 10,000 characters to become more appealing to new users.
However, that didn't pan out, as the Twitter executive confirmed that the service isn't going to get rid of the 140-character limit anytime soon, calling it a "beautiful constraint" that "inspires creativity and brevity" and adds a "sense of speed."
"It's staying. It's a good constraint for us, and it allows for of the moment," he said back in March.
During that time, he also tweeted a long message via a screenshot, suggesting that a feature to support longer texts that wouldn't have an impact on the 140-character limit was in the cards.
— Jack (@jack) January 5, 2016
Twitter declined to provide a comment to Bloomberg.
