this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Twitter started with a 140 character limit as that was what SMS messages originally were limited to (and still are, but phones can send and combine them seamlessly), as that was the original way to access it. It has since been updated to 240 characters iirc, but the idea still is that it's a microblog where readers don't have to read novels worth from each of the people they follow, and for longer content you write it on your own blog and link to it. But in the age of social media, hardly anyone has one anymore and you end up with this.
On Mastodon, you can pick an instance with a higher limit. The one I’m on has a limit of something like five essays worth of characters. Vast majority of messages are around 100-500 characters, but occasional you see someone actually put that higher limit to good use. I think Twitter/X has a limit that doesn’t really match the current need people have. I do understand the historical background behind it, but I don’t think that’s a good reason to keep dragging this historical baggage around.
There is no good reason for it, but also it's Twitter, who isn't known for making the best business decisions.