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Twitter revises 140-character limit to make room for names, images

By Allen Cone
Twitter is modifying aspects of its 140-character count limits by not counting images and attachments in the limit. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Twitter is modifying aspects of its 140-character count limits by not counting images and attachments in the limit. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 (UPI) -- Twitter users: In a few weeks you won't be limited to keeping your tweets to under 140 characters because certain things won't be counted.

The sentence above was cut down to reach the limit. But soon the company said it will will only count text in its count. Twitter handles in replies (with an "@" symbol), photos, GIFs, videos and polls will no longer be counted against the character limits in a tweet.

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"This will make having conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group," said Todd Sherman, Twitter's senior product manager, in a blog post.

In replies, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count limit, nor will photos, GIFs, videos, polls or quoted tweets on any type of tweet.

The changes also means users can broadcast a reply to everyone with retweets and tweets that start with another user's name. Previously, those tweets only showed up in the recipient's feed. To get around this limitation, users would often put a period before the username.

In the blog post, Sherman said the company has made the announcement ahead of implementing the changes to give developers time to work with the changes.

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The company also hinted at more new features.

"In addition to the changes outlined above, we have plans to help you get even more from your tweets," Sherman said. "We're exploring ways to make existing uses easier and enable new ones."

The 140-character count was created so tweets could be sent within SMS text messages' limit of 160, giving room for @names.

Twitter's users have stayed stagnant at around 300 million the past two years. Some blame its confusing rules for not growing.

"One of the biggest priorities for us this year is to really refine our product, to make it simpler," Twitter founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey told BBC.

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