How much is 140 characters?
A tweet, or Twitter post if you like, can be up to 140 characters in length. This is a limitation that is a big part of the reason why the service is so popular but it also creates daily frustration with tweeters everywhere. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has spread like wildfire around the globe and here in the Middle East its caught on like the black plague.
The 140 character limit was supposedly put in place first to make tweets compatible with SMS messages on mobile phones. Since then it’s taken on a life of its own, I guess you could say, and the short messages are now an accepted, even expected, part of our everyday lives.
So how much is 140 characters? It’s really not a lot. You can write “I love you” 12 times with a few characters to spare. It would take about 100 tweets to cover the entire Gettysburg Address, which, as far as a famous speech goes, is relatively short. And with almost 80,000 words in the Holy Quran it’s safe to say it would take you a while to tweet it in entirety. Can you see yourself proposing marriage in 140 characters? Getting hired for a new job? Getting fired from a job?
The simple fact is that if you’re going to be comfortable and ultimately successful with Twitter, no matter what you use it for, you have to work with the 140 character limit. You have to become used to fitting your message within the limited space. Sure you could make your point across several tweets or use a message shortening service but chances are that will not sit well with other tweeps.
And your ability to stick with the 140 character limit is getting even more important as we see an increase in the number of automated tweeter accounts and spammers. Genuine human interaction is becoming a treasured commodity on Twitter and being able to effectively interact within the confines of the 140 characters is something you should master.
So next time you are going to post another tweet, consider the 140 character limit and how you can best fit your message within it.
3 months ago