Twitter is expected to raise the number of characters
in a tweet from 140 to 10,000 sometime in the next few months, according to a
report in Re/code. It’s a move that makes sense to business writer Thomas Claburn.
In a column for InformationWeek, Claburn said the move could make Twitter a more valuable
advertising platform and allow it to offer news-publishing services, such as
the one Facebook provides with its Instant Articles. Another way it could boost
revenues for the company is by keeping users on the site longer instead of sending
them to other sites through links as it currently does.
Twitter is testing a format that only shows 140
characters with a link that expands the message to reveal the rest of the
content. The idea, according to Re/code, is to retain the look and feel of the
users’ timeline.
“Twitter
needs all the revenue growth it can get,” Claburn wrote. “Its stock price
remains below its IPO debut last year. Whether or not epic tweets become a
reality, Twitter needs ways to generate more revenue.”
