05.17.16

With an upcoming change, Twitter users will find it easier than ever to include links and pictures in their tweets.

A picture’s worth a thousand words – and soon none of those will count against Twitter’s character limit. As Bloomberg reported, “Twitter will no longer count links and photos against the platform’s 140-character limit.” The change is expected to take effect by early June 2016. Then, users will have 23 more characters – the amount pics and links required – at their disposal.

This subtle but significant move comes as users braced for the potential end of the 140 character limit all together – a change we described in a past Insight. Back then, we said the end was near – but this change could be for the better.

And as we noted then, more characters aren’t inherently better. (Game of Thrones has so many even the writers lose track.) Because as smart communicators know, when conveying a message, shorter is often the way to go. (See our Insight on writing the perfect email for more.)

But while more text may gas your readers, more pictures can significantly grow your traffic and, consequently, your audience. Twitter found that photos boost retweets by 35%. So Twitter users, put down the Taps bugle and strike up the band – and the gifs, memes, and photos. Visuals are a great way to grab attention on Twitter. And along with links, soon they’ll be easier than ever to include.