Why I am Saying No to #Twitter10k

When I first saw it on Facebook I thought it was a hoax.

But it wasn’t.

Twitter is seriously considering dropping the 140 character limit of its tweets to allow you up to 10,000 characters.

Pardon me for a minute, but what???

I’m still quite pissed over Twitter eliminating share counts not matter how lame their reason was. As someone who works in social media and content marketing, share count numbers are crucial to our analytics and measurement of content. Not that they care about that anyway.

Twitter is hand-down my favorite social media platform (for now). Here’s why –

• You have to be short, sweet and to the point.
• Great bursts of conversation.
• Quick to read.
• Did I mention you have to be short, sweet and to the point?
• Not altogether time-consuming.
• Effective for marketing.

Now that everyone has heard the news, here are some of the reactions:

#Twitter10k. If someone can’t articulate their thoughts in 140 characters, it’s probably not worth reading.

— Stephen Murdoch (@canadianprguy) January 6, 2016

a “read more” button might work. more concerned that Twitter management doesn’t understand Twitter #dontcopyfacebook https://t.co/xIPzAwF60S — Warren Whitlock (@WarrenWhitlock) January 6, 2016

When someone says “I can’t wait to post 10K word tweets”… #Twitter10K pic.twitter.com/dM3uGLPZ8A

— Gabriel Muñoz (@RowdyCJ) January 6, 2016

What your timeline will look like after #Twitter10K pic.twitter.com/BO7DBs9c23 — Syeda Huma (@Insafian_4ever) January 6, 2016

Lack of engagement by @twitter & @jack after #Twitter10k bombshell demonstrates an alarming lack of appreciation for their community

— Suzi McCarthy (@suzimcc) January 6, 2016

The beauty of Twitter is you HAVE to be short, sweet and to the point. You can’t add fluff wherever you want, like on Facebook. #Twitter10k — Kaeley Scruggs (@KaeleyScruggs) January 6, 2016

If you want to say more than 140 characters, start a blog! #Twitter10k

— Megan Millard (@musingsofmegan) January 6, 2016

#Twitter10k when Twitter changes the character limit to 10,000 but won’t add an edit button pic.twitter.com/ELx0iRqkRJ — KWAKU AGYEMANG (@kwaku_R) January 6, 2016

Twitter is killing itself right now, but you know what? They don’t seem to care. They don’t get it. They don’t see how their users are using it and how it benefits them. So much for putting the customer first, right? Well apparently customers are the reason for this – “Expanding the limit is a sign that Twitter and Jack Dorsey are willing to make serious changes in hopes of luring new users.” What I make of it is this – desperation. Twitter has seen the number of users signing up decline over the past year. Well, pardon the lowness of this, but duh. You are going to plateau at on users at some point because there are not any other people out there to sign up for your platform.

Here’s one great insight into what’s going on in Silicon Valley from Mark Schaefer, “The problem with most of the Silicon Valley companies is that they are run like engineering projects without marketing in mind. Last year I met with the marketing manager of Google Glass (before the collapse) and I pointed out a lot of problems with the program. He just shook his head and said “We really don’t know marketing. We really don’t” (He has since moved on). I have not been inside Twitter to see their analysis, but it occurs to me that Twitter does not have a keen sense of what makes it Twitter.”

I have two reasons this shouldn’t happen.

1. The 140 character limit is what defines them. This is why people use the platform. If you want to say something longer, start a blog and share the link. Or post it to Facebook. Eliminating them makes them no different than Facebook or Google Plus or LinkedIn.
2. I believe the majority of people are not going to take the time to read a 10,000 word post. I wouldn’t and I wouldn’t ask my 58,000+ followers to do so either. If Twitter feeds become nothing but long drawn-out posts, watch for a drop in average monthly users. Time is critical for everyone.

On the flipside, I am a marketer and as such, there is some upside to this. An article in Forbes made a case for favoring this –

• Keeping a staging area at 140 characters will allow Twitter users the ability to create punchier leads into a fuller piece, much like a snappy blog title or subject line. Yes there is a risk of marketers and publishers using it as clickbait but the control over whether reading that content or not is still in the hands of the reader

• Marketers can use this to full effect as a new means of content creation and thought leadership rather than paying for Twitter ads which nobody really engages with

• Customer service over Twitter should improve as consumers have an expanded way of articulating an issue, and businesses an easier way to engage to explain a solution

• A larger limit also allows the ability to have a conversation over a topic with multiple people rather than their Twitter handles consume much of the available characters currently

• Twitter can provide deeper analytics to differentiate between those which have had simple impressions on the “title”, and those which have been expanded to be read in full

• Search is now dramatically improved and Twitter becomes a real core asset to businesses and power users who want their content to be found

• More characters = more data = deeper analytics to gain insight about your audience, your consumers and brand advocates, and the ability to target your audience in a more personal way

As much as I’d like to jump on this having the business I do, I am also a consumer and user. I wouldn’t read a company’s long post, especially if it’s a sales pitch (which I see MANY using the 10,000 character limit as such). I couldn’t subject my followers and my clients’ followers to longer posts we know they won’t read. Now I know we don’t have to use all 10,000 characters, but people will stretch it as far as they can. Then again, Twitter could see all the outrage and scrap this (I highly doubt that will happen).

So I’ve said my peace and will have to go with whatever Twitter decides to do. Afterall, I’m just a user, not Jack Dorsey.

What are your thoughts on #Twitter10k?