Twitter to remove 140 character limit -- on direct messages

twitterdm

Limitation breeds creativity. When a person's proverbial hands are tied, their humanity will always shine through. In other words, the human mind finds a way. Humans are very resourceful; for example, prisoners can make alcohol in a toilet. Yum.

Twitter is another good example of a limitation breeding creativity. You see, the 140 character limitation can make it difficult to communicate, forcing the user to think outside the box. While some people find it to be harmful to the English language -- use of abbreviations and lack of punctuation -- I find it to be healthy exercise for the mind. Today, Twitter announces that it will be removing this limitation -- on direct messages (DMs), that is. Is this change good or bad?

"We’ve done a lot to improve Direct Messages over the past year and have much more exciting work on the horizon. One change coming in July that we want to make you aware of now (and first!) is the removal of the 140 character limit in Direct Messages", says Sachin Agarwal, Product Manager for Direct Messages, Twitter.

Agarwal further explains, "you may be wondering what this means for the public side of Twitter. Nothing! Tweets will continue to be the 140 characters they are today".

Phew. Don't worry fellow Twitter fans, this will only apply to direct messages. This is a welcomed change, as it is silly to limit personal messages between two people. The direct messaging process is an entirely different experience than the act of tweeting.

A DM is meant to be private and may be of a sensitive nature -- 140 characters when confiding in someone, seeking advice or conducting business just is not appropriate. Maybe you see someone being harassed, depressed, or tweeting about a hardship; there should be no limits on the way you reach out behind the scenes.

Are you excited for this change? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: PathDoc/Shutterstock

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