International

Twitter announced Tuesday that it will officially double the number of characters available to users for tweets. The company explained that it thought the move – first tested among a smaller group of users in September – would be helpful given that 9 percent of tweets hit the previous 140-character limit.
     Avid tweeters such as President Trump were often forced to send multiple tweets to express their thoughts on a single subject given the constrictions of the previous limit.
     According to research Twitter conducted, just 1 percent of the 280-character limit tweets hit the new max.
     Twitter explained after testing the 280-character limit that “people needed to use more than 140 characters, they Tweeted more easily and more often.”
     The company also preemptively addressed concerns that the structure of Twitter would change from the new character limit.
     “We – and many of you – were concerned that timelines may fill up with 280 character Tweets, and people with the new limit would always use up the whole space. But that didn’t happen,” Twitter said.