Twitter & the #280 Character Controversy
Twitter recently rolled out the 280 character limit option to all Twitter users. It’s an expansion that will see the original character limit of 140 words double. In just a few weeks since its release, brands are already utilizing the extra amount of words.
Examples of brands that have maxed out the new word count include Kit Kat and Charmin. Their posts included an array of emojis and reported words. In most cases of brand’s using the new 280 character limit, it’s been for longer messaging. Before Twitter rolled out the feature to all users, the social media platform tested out the expanded tweet option. Conclusion drawn from the tests showed that only 5% of tweets went over the previous 140 character limit. Even fewer users, at 2%, went over 190 characters for their Tweets.
As advertising is a vital component of revenue on a social media platform, Twitter is trying to focus more on boosting its ad revenue. Their recent quarter (Q3) only saw $503 million from ad revenue, which is down 8% in comparison to last year’s 3rd quarter. The recent expansion to the 280 character limit will see more large-scale brands utilizing the social media platform. Since brands will be able to communicate more information, they can better connect with their target audience. This aspect alone should help boost Twitter’s ad revenue, but it won’t be an end all solution to their problem. It’s yet to be seen if users will respond in the same way that brands are likely to respond. Most users log into Twitter to get quick bits of information in real-time, so it’s hard to say if users will engage as positively with the longer 280 character Tweets.
Another recent offering from Twitter is their subscription ad service, Promote Mode. At $99 per month, businesses can send up to 10 promoted tweets per day to their target audience. Since many large corporations already have steep ad budgets, this feature is mostly geared towards smaller businesses. Twitter geared this ad service, Promote Mode, to small businesses so that these brands could have a lower-cost/higher-efficiency way to advertise their product/service on Twitter’s platform. However, since it’s recent introduction there has already been a major issue raised by the advertisers using the service. Promote Mode acts as an automated promotion “engine” that randomly picks which 10 tweets to promote, instead of letting the advertiser select which ones that would fit best into their social media strategy. Twitter suggests that businesses looking to utilize the service have at the very minimum 2,000 followers. In a sense, it would be pointless for businesses to pay to use the service to promote their content if they only have a few hundred followers. This feature is truly for those brands that are already established on Twitter, but want to take their social media game to the next level. Although it’s a great feature for brands to have access to, there is still a lack of control when it comes to which posts are going to be promoted on the social media platform. If a brand wants to be very specific with their targeting options, this is not the feature to pay for. However, brands that want to take a more laissez faire approach to their Twitter account will find Promote Mode to be a worthwhile feature.
Since Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced Twitter would be expanding its character count to 280 there has been excitement and outrage over the shift. With two times the amount of space to engage with audiences, brands now have the opportunity to thoughtfully and creatively get out a more extensive message to their intended audience.