Twitter recently doubled its long-established 140-character limit per tweet. The move is intended to preserve the speed and brevity of the platform, according to Twitter, but make it easier for users to express themselves. Take advantage of the higher character limit by starting with some of the following strategies:

  • Use more hashtags. More characters mean you can include more hashtags, giving additional context to your post and potentially reaching more users. There still will be a balance between including too many hashtags and using the extra characters to make your message clear.
  • Mention other users. Including others in your conversations, threads, and replies promotes engagement with users and helps build your own following.
  • Expand your thought instead of cramming it. Before the change, 9% of tweets hit the character limit. After a test by Twitter, only 1% of tweets hit the new 280-character limit. Fewer people were spending time cramming their thoughts into the character limit, and longer tweets saw more engagement. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t edit yourself. However, using extra characters to express full, clear thoughts can lead to more engaging tweets.