Twitter has said that its Blue subscribers can now tweet in a longer form of up to 4,000 characters, from the regular 280 characters limit.
The microblogging site is banking on this new feature to attract more users to sign up for its subscription which costs $8 a month for Android users and $11 for iPhone users.
The social media company further noted that while only the Blue subscribers can enjoy long-form tweeting, every Twitter user can read the long-form tweets. Users will see only the first 280 characters on the timeline, and if they want to read more, they can click on “Show more”.
Why long-form is better: Explaining the rationale behind the long-form tweet as opposed to the use of threads, Twitter said:
- “We know that lots of you need more than 280 characters to express yourself… and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. We get that. So, we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna want to check this out.
- “Starting today, if you’re subscribed to Twitter Blue in the US, you can create longer Tweets. Most standard functions of Tweeting still apply, whether you want to post a picture, use a hashtag, or create a poll. But now you can type all the way up to 4,000 characters. For now, longer Tweets on the web can’t be saved as drafts or scheduled to send later.”
need more than 280 characters to express yourself?
we know that lots of you do… and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. we get that.
so we're introducing longer Tweets! you're gonna want to check this out. tap this 👉…
— Premium (@premium) February 8, 2023
More details: While noting that reading a longer tweet could also mean a lot of scrolling, Twitter said it has made it easy by capping the first part of a long-form tweet at 280 characters on the timeline, adding those interested in reading the whole tweet will have to click on “Show more” prompt.
- “While only Blue subscribers can post longer Tweets, anyone and everyone can read them. you can reply to, retweet, and quote Tweet a longer Tweet, no matter if you’re a Twitter Blue subscriber or not. Subscribers will be able to reply and QT with up to 4,000 characters,” Twitter added.
