Twitter’s Productive Restriction
If you’ve ever tried typing typing as much as a single Tweet in your life, you’ll have probably dealt with Twitter’s most widely discussed feature — or restriction (up to the user’s discretion). We’re referring to no other, but its famous word count limit.
140. And that’s about it.
It’s all about those one hundred and forty letters.
There have been endless talks about how Twitter should greatly increase this limit, even erase it completely.
Then there are those who wholeheartedly support this feature / restriction. However, it must be noted that the other side of this Social Media giant’s Word Limit is just as, if not more, interesting to consider.
Through what, at first, seems but an annoying, counter-productive restriction, Twitter has basically established a language on its own. Think of how people type on other social media platforms. You may still notice some special features here and there, but Twitter’s style of writing is more unique than all of the above combined. Not only does it make it easier for the reader to make out just the core of each Tweet’s content, but also pushes the Tweet’s composer to think of a way to fit all of their ideas, thoughts, and views in a tiny 140-character long text, which usually doesn’t surpass one sentence in length.
Although not all Twitter users consider the use of language as their top priority as regards Social Media, no one can argue that having a short word limit to encourage you to compose a sentence both short and meaningful, is nothing but a productive advantage. It helps you sharpen your linguistic skills and also remember to keep your text simple and filled with just the essentials.
Of course, there’s also the opposite side of the argument. Many people that wish to express complex ideas and views that simply cannot be squished in a 140-character environment find this world limit to be a burden that weights their shoulders throughout their digital day. If you are reading this through a Tweet share, well, you are basically experiencing just that. You’re experiencing the case of a composer who just couldn’t fit their analysis on the word length that Twitter allows.
The above views don’t have to contradict each other, however. Those who have more to speak of than others can easily upload a text as large as they wish on a different platform and then share it via their Twitter Account; plus, they’ll have another 140 letters to add as a review or comment on their attached text. Besides, everyone can agree that if that character limit magically disappeared, the chaos that would occur on our Twitter news feed would be indescribable.
At the end of the day, Twitter’s tiny character limit helps both the reader and the composer. The former is helped through a cleaner and more peaceful News Feed interface, while the latter through the amount of thought they have to put into fitting everything they want to express in just a hundred and forty words.
If you are not the laconic type, simply fire up any open-source publishing platform and start writing til’ you can’t feel your fingers. But as far as Twitter’s character count per se is concerned, no one should argue that, however annoying at times, this restriction truly helps everyone read and write in a simple and elegant manner, thus making the usage of the platform an easier and more enjoyable experience.
And remember:
via @jack
