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Twitter adds line breaks and gets hit with the ugly stick

The addition has spawned some hideous and absurdly elongated 140-character updates.

Jennifer Van Grove Former Senior Writer / News
Jennifer Van Grove covered the social beat for CNET. She loves Boo the dog, CrossFit, and eating vegan. Her jokes are often in poor taste, but her articles are not.
Jennifer Van Grove
Screenshot: Jennifer Van Grove/CNET

Twitter isn't broken, it just looks that way.

The company said today that people can now use line breaks in their tweets. The revelation has already spawned some hideous and absurdly elongated 140-character updates.

The information network fittingly announced the change with its own broken-line tweet in haiku form. The breaks in form are visible on the Web and in the company's mobile apps, though not in TweetDeck or third-party apps.

The addition is a rather unfortunate one for those who enjoy a clean stream. Creatives, poets, jokers, and teens, however, may appreciate the option to have a little more fun with Twitter's previously rigid form.

Line breaks can be used for emphasis. They may help the writer make his or her point better, and should ensure that the tweet stands out from the others flying by.

But as the pictured tweet from Nathan Bransford, CNET's social media manager, demonstrates, the ability to add line breaks to tweets is a power that should not go unchecked.