In praise of Twitter's new 280-character limit

Twitter as we know it is about to change. That's a good thing.

A lot to tweet.
(Image credit: Illustration by Lauren Hansen | Logo courtesy Twitter)

Is the Twitter apocalypse nigh? When the social media platform announced it was experimenting with doubling the space for each tweet to 280 characters, my immediate reaction was to take it personally. I joined the chorus of other long-time users decrying the change, fearing it would alter the fundamental nature of the service.

But now, with a bit of perspective, I welcome the shift. By slowing the service down and making it more clunky, the new character count might just change Twitter for the better.

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Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.