Twitter is testing doubling the character limit to 280

Twitter announced it's testing out a new feature with a "small group" of people: a doubled character limit.

The company says 140 characters may not be enough space for folks to express themselves. In a blog post, Twitter shared some of its product research regarding the 140 character limit. It seems nearly every language supported on Twitter — save for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean — runs up against that 140 mark time and time again.

In languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese you can convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages, like English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French. … We see that a small percent of Tweets sent in Japanese have 140 characters (only 0.4%). But in English, a much higher percentage of Tweets have 140 characters (9%). … Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English, but it is not for those Tweeting in Japanese.

Before you get too excited (or incredibly frustrated) by the change, know this: Twitter has yet to roll out the feature to everyone. The company says it will be collecting data and feedback from its test group before it makes any changes.

Although we feel confident about our data and the positive impact this change will have, we want to try it out with a small group of people before we make a decision to launch to everyone.

In any case, Twitter says it plans to keep everyone posted regarding this possible change in character limit, so keep your eye on that @Twitter account!

Are you looking forward to having more characters to express your thoughts (and hot takes) on Twitter or do you want the service to keep things right where they are? Give us a shout in the comments or — even better — over on Twitter!

Mikah Sargent

Mikah Sargent is Senior Editor at Mobile Nations. When he's not bothering his chihuahuas, Mikah spends entirely too much time and money on home automation products. You can follow him on Twitter at @mikahsargent if you're so inclined.

Latest in Twitter
Twitter Logo on a Pixel
Whistleblower calls out Twitter for spambots and mishandling user data
Elon Musk at the TED2022 conference
What is free speech?
Twitter logo on a Pixel 4 XL
Twitter makes it easier to search for Communities on the web
Twitter Logo Header
Massive Twitter outage ends after about 90 minutes
Social Media Apps
House committee summons Meta, Alphabet, Twitter and Reddit over Capitol riot
Twitter Explore Tiktok
Twitter wants to turn the Explore page into yet another TikTok clone
Latest in News
YouTube Music home screen
YouTube Music's personalized radio stations are getting even smarter
The back of the Obsidian Google Pixel 9 Pro
Some Pixel owners had a delayed start, thanks to alarm clock failures
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Home Screen - 16x9
Heads up — Samsung's detailed One UI 7 rollout schedule for Galaxy appears
The old Android logo at Google's Pier 57 building in New York City
Report claims Google may move to 'privately' develop Android's future
Leaked image of a blue Galaxy Z Flip 7
New Galaxy Z Flip 7 case leak backs rumors of a larger cover display
The Google Maps logo at the Google Maps Street View Garage
Google Maps might predict more than just the traffic for you soon