Twitter expands its character count to 280

Twitter’s expansion to 280 characters is rolling out publicly today to all users in supported languages, including English, reports Tech Crunch.

The company had first announced the plan to move beyond its traditional 140 characters back in September, noting at the time how a longer character count allowed users to express more of their thoughts without running out of room to tweet.

The expansion was initially available to a select group of Twitter users as a trial.

At the time of its original announcement, the company cited data backing up its decision that referenced how the character constraints impacted users differently, depending on their language.

Because of this, Twitter decided the expansion to 280 characters would only roll out to those languages affected by “cramming” – meaning everything but Japanese, Chinese and Korean – during the test period.

The #280 Controversy

The decision was met with a fair amount of controversy, given that one of Twitter’s defining characteristics is the brevity of users’ posts.

Many argued that the increase to 280 characters would make Twitter less readable, as longer tweets filled their timelines.

Others suggested that Twitter’s focus on a feature no one really asked for was diverting its attention from more critical problems – like the rampant abuse, harassment and bullying it’s become known for unfortunately.