I use Twitter. To make Twitter be even more relevant: allow for longer text

Illustration by Stefan Lindblad (me). Originally for a Webinar I made for Corel Corp on digital drawing & using Corel PHOT-PAINT and a Wacom pen tablet
Illustration by Stefan Lindblad (me). Originally for a Webinar I made for Corel Corp on digital drawing & using Corel PHOTO-PAINT and a Wacom pen tablet

I use Twitter. I think I know what could make Twitter be even more relevant: allow for long text. Way more than 140 characters.

I have felt this from day one. I know, its a great statement saying you only have 140 characters to tell your story. But seriously why limit yourself to that? With other channels like Instagram and more channels coming all the time, i believe twitter users and Twitter corporation themselves, would benefit if they allowed for either 400 words in their tweets. But with a catch.

Actually 400 words could be seen as the perfect way to go. Why? Well, most newspaper columns, at least in the daily worldwide Swedish owned newspaper METRO, are within that 400 word mark. Its the perfect amount of words for a column, written by a columnist expressing his/her views. And for further reading one simply click a link. And it is also the perfect amount of words you can cope with reading an early morning, on the train or bus commuting in to work.

The catch could be, that only the first lines of text allowed to be viewed by twitter users – the classic 140 characters, and it would allow to be seen as a title to an article, or news flash as it is today. The modern type of Haiku. And to be able to read the entire text, would have to click a button to open the entire article.

Because, seriously, how fun is it to read a twitter tweet with mostly 140 characters of hash-tags, that some post. This would also allow for more advertising space, similar to Google Ads, inside the article, but instead of google adds, its twitter own ad service.

But one should still only be allowed 140 characters for comments posted by followers and readers.

As human beings, we take to our hearts and minds various ways for communicating with others. That´s what social media is all about. So why limiting Twitter interactions to only 140. It may be seen to make sense, from a marketing strategy sense, to be unique. But as much as limitation can be beneficial, it can also be a unnecessary obstacle to grow.

How many words have I used for this column type article? 386.

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator, graphic designer
Web portfolio: www.stefanlindblad.com
Blog: www.canvas.nu/stefanlindblad-blog

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