Internet9.02.2023

Twitter increases character limit for Blue subscribers

By Myles Illidge

Twitter Blue subscribers in the US can now post tweets up to 4,000 characters long. Previously members were limited to 280 words per tweet.

“Blue” is Twitter’s premium subscription that allows paying customers to edit tweets within 30 minutes of posting them, upload longer and full HD videos, and use NFT avatars.

The feature could be useful for Twitter users who would rather not write a multi-tweet thread.

“Need more than 280 characters to express yourself? We know that lots of you do… and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once,” the company said in a post from its Twitter Blue profile.

“Starting today, if you’re subscribed to Twitter Blue in the US you can create longer Tweets.”

Twitter specified that most standard posting functions will still apply, including sharing pictures, using a hashtag, or creating polls.

“But now you can type all the way up to 4,000 characters. For now, longer Tweets on web can’t be saved as drafts or scheduled to send later,” Twitter said.

While only Twitter Blue subscribers can post lengthy Tweets, the company said all users could read, reply to, retweet, and quote them.

To keep scrolling on the platform to a minimum, Twitter will still limit lengthy tweets to a 280-character preview in feeds. A “Show more” link will be available to expand the post.

Twitter relaunched Blue in December 2022 after a weeks-long pause resulting from a wave of “protest impersonations”.

This was after Elon Musk announced that Twitter was changing how its Verified Account badges would work.

Where previously account verification was free and based on Twitter’s own internal measures of notability, Musk wanted users to pay for the controversial blue checkmark.

This led to some users using the feature to impersonate well-known accounts.

The company said it would take “a number of other steps to detect and prevent impersonation” with the relaunched subscription, including a requirement that users have a valid phone number attached to their account.

The Twitter Blue subscription costs $7.99 (R142, excl. VAT) per month. It is not currently available in South Africa.