This article was published on September 27, 2017

How to activate the new 280 character tweets on Twitter


How to activate the new 280 character tweets on Twitter Image by: James Melville / Twitter

As you might have noticed, Twitter is currently testing a new format that doubles the 140 character limit to 280, so you can more freely fit your thoughts into a single tweet. The feature is presently available to select users only, but there is a little trick you can pull off to get the extra space right now.

Bear in mind there are more than one ways to do this – we think this is among the more straightforward and hassle-free approaches; especially for Chrome users. So here is how you do it:

  • Load up Tweetdeck at tweetdeck.twitter.com.
  • Head to View, hover over the Developer menu, and select Developer Tools.
  • Find Sources and click on the arrow below to access Snippets.

  • Once you open Snippets, click the ‘New Snippet’ button and copy/paste the following code in the empty window on the right.

  • Click the Play button below to run the snippet.
  • Boom, now you can tweet with 280 characters.

 

  • Please note that this trick works only in Tweetdeck, which means you will have to use the Tweetdeck client for all of your 280-character tweets.

Update: Developer Juliette Pretot has since tipped us off to an even easier way to activate the 280 character tweets. Find out how here.

There you have it: You can now share your crappy reflections on life in double the space. Much like these people here:

While this is an interesting development for Twitter – and the strongest indication yet the site is willing to change its foundations – chances are it will take some time before users start settling into the expanded character limit… which means we’re likely to see some mindless rambles like the ones above quite often.

Give it some time, it will pass.

Now lets hope adding the ability to edit tweets is next on the agenda. Everybody seems to want that.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Published
Back to top