Twitter to Stop Counting Media, Mentions Towards 140-Character Limit From September 19: Report

Twitter earlier this year confirmed that its signature 140-character limit for tweets was here to stay. The company however confirmed plans to change the way it counted those 140 characters back in May, without announcing a date when it will be implemented. A new report indicates that Twitter will start executing the new changes for 140-characters limit from September 19.

With the new changes, the tweets will no longer count the usernames toward the 140-character count. Apart from usernames, tweets will also stop counting media attachments such as images, gifs, videos, polls, or even quote tweets as characters within your Tweet.

Announcing the new format back in May, Twitter had claimed that the new changes would make conversations on the platform "easier and more straightforward." The Verge report, which cites two people familiar with the company's business, however notes that "plans for the rollout could change." Unfortunately, Twitter is yet to reveal a date for the new changes to tweet characters limit.

Apart from the above changes, Twitter will also enable the retweet button on user's own tweets which will allow retweeting or quoting tweets. At this moment, it is not clear whether all the changes will be in effect from next week only or the changes will roll out gradually.

Previously, we've seen reports on how the company planned to pull the plug on the count completely, and many felt the micro-blogging site would lose its essence. "It's staying. It's a good constraint for us and it allows for of-the-moment brevity," Jack Dorsey had told a news site.

Soon after, the company removed the limit from Direct Messages, but ascertained that tweets will continue to be 140 characters only. Previously, Twitter has also said that links and photo attachments will not be using up characters in the 140 characters limit.

(Also Read: Direct Message limit to exceed from 140 characters to 10,000)

Back in May, Twitter apart from making a general announcement about the new changes had notified developers and said that the update would be available over the coming months.

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How to turn off Twitter read receipts?

Twitter had announced, much to the anger of most of Twitterati , the READ RECEIPTS to its Direct Messages. While once you could bask in the safety of stimulating ignorance at your DM box, that privilege has now been eradicated in the latest update.

Don't panic, though, because there's a way to disable read receipts from ruining everything.

While enabled by default, this feature can be disabled by going into your account settings "at any time." Specifically,  To turn off read receipts, simply go to the "Security and privacy" tab in your settings on desktop, scroll all the way down, and uncheck the box. It should look something as follows:

It’s not only read receipts coming, though. The micro blogging service also plans typing indicators and web link previews, in an obvious effort to morph the DM into more of chat service.

(Also Read: Twitter Introduces Read Receipts, Web Link Previews in Direct Messages)

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Twitter Introduces Read Receipts, Web Link Previews in Direct Messages

After introducing the Night Mode feature on iOS and Android, Twitter is now taking efforts to put focus back on its Direct Messaging (DM) feature.

Twitter has been trying to position direct messages as a chat app and many changes have been introduced recently in a bid to encourage more conversations. The most notable among these changes was the removal of the 140-character limit in DMs last year enabling users to exchanges lengthy missives. And now, the introduction of read receipts, typing indicators, and web link previews to direct messages is another most definite sign of Twitter intentions for its direct messages feature.

(Also Read: Direct Message limit to exceed from 140 characters to 10,000)

Read receipts bring the ability to see if the user has read the private message or not, or whether it has been delivered or not. This works similar to what is seen on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Users who consider this as a breach of privacy can disable it from the Settings menu. However, you will then not be able to see whether your message has been delivered or not either.

New! Direct Messages are more dynamic than ever with read receipts, typing indicators, and web link previews. pic.twitter.com/VEU92V5Gqj

— Twitter (@twitter) September 8, 2016

This new feature hasn't been rolled out on the Web, but it is available for Android and iOS users. Additionally, Twitter DM also gets Web link previews. This means that every time you send a link via DM, a small preview will also be sent alongside. Lastly, Twitter has also introduced the typing indicator feature which show three dots next to the username when they are typing a reply in real-time. While Direct Messaging isn't the first choice of communication for many users, these additions are still noteworthy for the platform. All of these features don't require an update, and are accessible to all users currently.

(Also Read: How to turn off twitter read receipts? )

As mentioned, Twitter has slowly but steadily been updating the DM to make it more user friendly for its avid users. It gradually allowed people to add emojis and even gif images. In April, it even added a button that let people easily share 'tweets' in direct messages.

Most of these features can be found on most chat apps out there, and Twitter appears to be playing catch up for now. These latest updates to direct messages are welcome changes to the otherwise mundane feature, and Twitter's continued efforts could possibly bear fruit for them sometime in the future.

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