America
What made Twitter look beyond 140 characters?
New Delhi, June 14
What could have made
Twitter grow beyond being just a micro-blogging, social media site and
relent on its strict 140-character limit - at least for direct messaging
services? Come July twitteratis can send direct messages on the
platform as long as 10,000 characters.
But why this sudden decision?
With
growing popularity of direct messaging platforms like WhatsApp and
Facebook, experts feel Twitter's decision was to keep its customers
happy and the site competitive.
"Micro-blogging is the main
identity of Twitter. They must be getting feedback from the users to
increase the length of the direct messages from 140 characters," Rishi
Tejpal, principal research analyst at Gartner, told IANS.
"I
think the Twitter decision reflects its urge to diversify into different
domains using existing infrastructure," Tejpal added.
"We've
done a lot to improve direct messages over the past year and have much
more exciting work on the horizon.One change coming in July that we want
to make you aware of now (and first!) is the removal of the 140
character limit in direct messages," one of the Twitter developers
wrote.
"Twitter has been upgrading its features with a focus on
its direct messaging. Lifting the limit is going to be extremely useful
for brands to not only handle customer issues but in delighting
customers," Sumana Samuk, digital marketing manager, Litehouse, an
experience design house under Harman International.
Increasing the character limit will definitely provide more flexibility.
"It
will be a novelty,"said Sachin Doon, co-founder, Digital Research and
Technology Solutions. "On the positive side, it could be used by
businesses as well, like including product newsletter too in direct
messages," Doon told IANS.
"On the other side I feel it good for
those who still love to write descriptive letter-like things to each
other, people might actually start to use proper grammar and
punctuation."
Inversely, consumers will also find it convenient to reach out to brands from any location.
"Brands
have trained and integrated their team to handle customer relations.
Now Twitter's direct messaging service will come to their rescue. They
can have one-on-one conversations, they can have customers' personal
details, since the service will use Twitter's platform," Samuk added.