So, word on the street is that Twitter will no longer be including links or images in its 140 character limit. Great news for all of us who struggled with getting; message, hashtags, mentions, images and links into a few measly sentences….or is it? We break down the Pros and Cons of this potential new move.
PROS
- More freedom with the keyboard. Let’s face it, it doesn’t matter how well we write, sometimes that 140ch is a god-darned struggle. Those extra characters are going to make all the difference for those businesses with lots to say.
- Higher Flesch Kincaid scores. We will no longer need to type like we imagine Siri would, just to get a message in. An added bonus is that it may improve the sp. of the “yoof of today" if they are allowed to communicate in full words.
- More use of images and videos. Sometimes you are faced with a choice…image or actual message? In the absence of any words with actual meaning, often the image loses this battle. This dilemma will no longer present itself as often. This should improve UX, we all like a good gif.
- More reach. A bit more opportunity now for mentions and hashtags (#without #having #to #make #them #all #part #of #your #sentence).
CONS
- The beauty of Twitter was its brutality of editing. Only the true wordsmiths and content writing professionals could master its brevity and still remain relevant, engaging and on trend. This made Twitter great for the most part, no long rants or prose to bore your feed with. Is this move going to open things up to those with less deft sleight of keyboard?
- With more space, will we try to fit too much in? Multiple messaging in one tweet. Confusing calls to actions. Consumer “switch-off". Just because we have more space, doesn’t mean we need to fill it – but will temptation prove too much?
- More work. We simply have more words to write and read now. This is less time spent doing important things like gazing at the keyboard.
- Less opportunity to show off. Come on, there’s nothing like nailing it in 140 characters and sending that baby out to the world. Especially in front of your peers and industry.
- More content from the Kardashians.
CONCLUSION
Overall, a thumbs up for this move. This brings opportunity for good writers to write even better; bringing more great content our way. This can only be a positive. However, just beware all of those Facebookers and inspirational quote posters who will now seize the opportunity to fill the feed up with posts about how well their roasted butternut squash turned out. Still, we can always unfollow or list them.