Twitter is testing the expansion of its 140-character format to 280 characters. They must feel they can better lure advertisers if everyone who’s in the Twitterverse for free has more space to spew.
I hope the test fails. But Twitter meanwhile says that Tweeters in every language except Japanese, Chinese and Korean have been at a disadvantage all these years. All other languages require “cramming” in order to communicate in 140 characters or less.
Never mind that the “Twitterverse” owes its success to cramming. Its revolutionary format redefined the way we share, fight, bitch, philosophize, talk to and talk at others. It forced us to adopt symbols, hash tags and acronyms into our everyday language. But it also made us mince useless words. It forced communicators to “get straight to the point.”
We already have enough long-windedness. If that’s what’s needed, create a different app.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
And if it can’t be said in 140 characters, don’t Tweet it.
