140 or 280? Twitter’s ‘Character’ Change is Trending on Indian Social Networking Sites. Here’s Why.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you have been away from the world of internet then here is a breaking news for you. Twitter is slowly turning it’s 140 character limit to 280 characters.
While the buzz around this news has been nothing short of electric on social networking websites, people are much divided by this announcement, especially on the Indian social networking sites
A Big Move
While many people think that this is the biggest change that Twitter has made since its launch back in 2006. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO has a different opinion. He called the transition “a small change, but a big move for us.”
In just one day of its announcement Twitter’s character has become a hot topic of debate on Indian social networking sites as the people are filled with their own opinions on it. Some quite serious, while many hilarious.
And, it all began with this tweet on September 27, 2017 :
Can’t fit your Tweet into 140 characters?
We’re trying something new with a small group, and increasing the character limit to 280! Excited about the possibilities? Read our blog to find out how it all adds up.cards.twitter.com/cards/gsby/4ub…
The Reason Behind Change
Well, if you want to go with official version of the company, then it claims it reached the decision after its research findings revealed the character count limitation impacted those tweeting in some languages, such as English, Spanish, more than others like Japanese, and Chinese.
Twitter product manager Aliza Rozen had this to say further, ‘’ Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people tweeting in English, but it is not for those tweeting in Japanese.’’
To illustrate this point, Twitter used a graph to show the number of tweets that reached the threshold of 140 characters. In short, less than 1 percent of all tweets in Japanese hit 140 characters versus 9 percent in English.
The ‘’Real’’ Reason Behind Change
If it were only that simple to believe the company’s version. Although it is one of the best social networking website in India, our attention was captured by other sources. And, according to these sources the root cause is –
”Twitter’s growth problem”
- The change comes at a time when Twitter is looking to compete with social media giants like Facebook. Also, at a time users want Twitter to do more to fight off bullies and trolls and robots that spread misinformation.
- Tech blog VentureBeat confirmed Twitter’s growth problem in July, reporting that the number of monthly active users had stayed flat for the first and second quarter of this year. And that could spell more trouble for a company whose stock was trading at $23.05 a year ago and just $16.59 Tuesday.
Reactions of Twitterati
It seems the twitterati has an opinion on anything, be it the release of music albums, online music, celeb affairs, and political stories.
Here are some of the reactions to the story which has become a hot topic on Indian social networking sites:
A small group can now tweet 280 characters instead of 140. Let's hope Trump is NOT a member of this small group. twitter.com/twitter/status…
It is yet to see how users will react when this gamble by one of the best Indian social networking sites plays out. Will it change the fate of the company? Or will it further take down the bird who has flown too high?
Write your opinion in the section below. Tell us what you think of this move by Twitter.
Till next time, adios!
Source : https://sabakuch.com/blog/2017/09/29/140-280-twitters-character-hot-topic-indian-social-networking-sites/
Comments
Post a Comment