A character limit is a limit on the number of characters in a message which is used in

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

messaging and on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

platforms such as

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

Bluesky Bluesky is a microblogging social media social networking service, service. Users can share short posts containing text, images, and videos. It is owned by Bluesky Social PBC, a benefit corporation based in the United States. Bluesky was dev ...

, GNU social,

Bilibili Bilibili (stylized in all lowercase), nicknamed B Site, is a Chinese online video sharing website based in Shanghai where users can submit, view, and add overlaid commentary on videos. Bilibili hosts videos on various themes, including ...

Pixiv Pixiv is a Japanese Virtual community, online community for artists. It was first launched as a beta test on 10 September 2007, by Takahiro Kamitani and Takanori Katagiri. Pixiv Inc. is headquartered in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya, Toky ...

, and Jejemon. Character limits usually lead to messages being shorter and users being forced to shorten messages through the use of

abbreviations An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

, emojis and

acronyms An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

. The character limit originated with

messages which had a limit of 160 characters. This character limit was invented by Friedhelm Hillebrand in 1984, who determined that it was sufficient for most communications.

On Twitter

The 160-character limit was adopted by

when the site launched in 2006, 20 characters were reserved for the username, with 140 characters for the tweet. The original limit was seen as an iconic fixture of the platform, encouraging "speed and brevity". In March 2017, the character limit on Twitter was changed so that media attachments or mentions in replies would not increase the character limit. In November 2017, Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280 characters. In 2023, Twitter boosted the character limit for

Twitter Blue Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

subscribers. In February, it was increased to 4000. In April, it was again increased to 10,000, and in June, to 25,000.

References

{{Reflist Twitter Typing

On Twitter

See also

References