Twitter to exempt photos, GIFs from 140-character limit
The @names in reply tweets will also not count toward the miserly limit in changes rolling out in the coming months.
You will soon be able to shoehorn more into your tweets without going over the 140-character limit.
The microblogging service said Tuesday that it will soon introduce changes that will exempt certain features from counting toward that limit, including media attachments such as photos, GIFs, videos and polls. To a lesser degree, the @names in tweet replies will also not be counted toward the limit.
And for the true narcissists out there, you'll be able to retweet and quote yourself in the coming months.
Twitter's miserly character count has been a bone of contention for users. There were rumors earlier this year that Twitter was considering allowing tweets up to 10,000 in characters. But Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey ended that speculation in March by telling NBC's "Today" show that the 140-character limit is staying. Today's announcement is part of Dorsey's broader push to make Twitter more approachable for average users put off by the micro-blogging service's sometimes cryptic ways.
Twitter will also simplify the rules for tweets that start with a username to retire the "@ convention." Under the new rules, tweets that begin with a username will reach all of your followers.