Forget Character Limits, Twitter May Soon Let You Publish Entire Books
Twitter has undergone several changes since Elon Musk took over the company, but the biggest may soon be on the horizon. Twitter is developing a feature called Articles that will allow users to post lengthy, mixed-media posts that will blow away the character limit that a standard tweet currently has. This was seemingly confirmed when Musk responded to a tweet by Taiwanese journalist Fausto Chou that noted a still-experimental feature called Twitter Notes had been renamed Articles. Musk elaborated that Articles would "allow users to post very long, complex articles with mixed media." Never afraid to use hyperbole, Musk added, "You could publish a book if you want," implying the feature's character limit will be limitless.
This will allow users to post very long, complex articles with mixed media. You could publish a book if you want.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2023
Currently, only verified users can tweet more than 280 characters, with a limit of 10,000. However, a lengthier Articles post would be on a separate feed and not technically a traditional tweet. Users will be able to directly tweet their Articles to their feed, though, allowing them to be shared, bookmarked, and retweeted. Additionally, users will be able to embed photos, gifs, and videos, as well as employ rich formatting and include other tweets within a post, creating fully mixed-media content. Articles will appear on a user's profile once published.
Articles seems to be an attempt to give users similar content creation and sharing tools to those of other long-form content platforms like Medium and Substack. Its original incarnation, Notes, was an experimental feature started by Twitter before Musk bought the company in October 2022. While Musk has talked nonstop about changes to the company since then, this is the first time the Notes feature has been officially acknowledged. Despite still being in development, it looks increasingly likely that it will eventually go live to the public.
Articles is part of Twitter's goal to become a superapp
It's unclear — like many new features since Musk took over Twitter — if Articles will be limited to paid subscribers only. One of the biggest changes to the company since his takeover has been incentivizing users to pay a monthly subscription fee for verification with various perks, like having their comments prioritized.
Musk has been implementing or announcing plans to implement other changes as well, in hopes of expanding Twitter into more than just a short-form content social network. Many of these changes have been to boost content creation and give users more reasons to visit the app. Earlier this year, Twitter Coins was announced, an in-app currency system allowing users to reward creators. Musk has also been pushing for original video content on the platform, notably giving Tucker Carlson his own "TV show" on Twitter after Carlson was fired from Fox News. Another recent move has been to give verified users portions of the ad revenue generated from their posts.
All of these features coalesce into Musk's larger vision of turning Twitter into an all-in-one "X" app, similar to WeChat and other "superapps" popular in Asia and elsewhere abroad. With Meta's hugely successful launch of Threads, the need for Twitter to stand out and justify its existence within the social media landscape is more apparent than ever. It wouldn't be a surprise if the company hastens the development of Articles and gives it a big push in order to retain users and attract new ones. For now, it's unclear when Articles could launch to the public, and only a small number of users currently have access to its experimental beta version.