Conversationalists rejoice – in an effort to encourage more communication between its members Twitter has now removed the 140-character limit from its direct messages. “Speak your mind, all of it” said the social media network, which made the change to its distinguishing feature on August 12th. Twitter released a statement about the change, saying “Today’s change is another big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun.”
In addition to this change tweeters now also have the freedom to send and receive direct messages from fellow users without also needing to follow them. Furthermore, fans of Facebook chat will be interested to know that Twitter has also rolled out private group conversations, increasing the scope of personal messaging.
So why have these changes been implemented? The world of social media is competitive, with networks constantly coming in and out of fashion and ongoing development of new platforms, meaning that networks must adapt to survive. Twitter has therefore been working hard to prevent it becoming the MySpace of 2015, ensuring that it remains an appealing option by listening to its users and delivering a competitive service.
The popular network is also keen to partner with brands – reports show that an increasing number of consumers are utilising Twitter as a brand engagement tool for anything from queries about opening hours to complaints. Removing the 140-character limit will allow brands to respond to Twitter users without inhibition and resolve issues on Twitter itself rather than frustrating complainants by re-directing them to external sites.
Importantly, Twitter’s latest change will level the digital playing field somewhat – many popular social media sites operate a direct messaging service free from character restrictions, from Facebook to younger networks including Snapchat and WhatsApp. Twitter users are still restricted by the 140-character limit imposed on their public tweets, but whether that will need to change in order to safeguard the its future remains to be seen.
-Paul Bunting
Paul is a Shake Social intern with a passion for socialmedia.
Kate Tyler is the founder of Shake Social and our long time social media expert. A regular speaker at events, Kate offers consultancy and training on a range of digital marketing topics, in particular safeguarding and using social media in an educational setting.