If this change is indeed implemented, which most commentators fully expect to happen, it will surely necessitate a complete change of approach from advertisers active on Twitter.
A recent survey found that “tweets with embedded images get 18% more clicks, 150% more retweets and 89% more likes”. Twitter clearly believe that the fewer content restrictions, the more users and advertisers will engage with the platform.
While some Twitter users were dismayed at the news, Jack Dorsey (Twitter co-founder) explained the logic of the movie. “We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it,” he said. “Instead, what if that text … was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. That’s more utility and power.”
Twitter Ads: the good, the bad and the branding!
The Wall Street Journal viewed the move as a positive and used an example of how Twitter is currently passing on engagement to other websites, such as Facebook. They used the example of the newly crowned Miss Universe, who tweeted a link to a thank you letter on Facebook which received more than half a million likes.
Even on slightly weightier topics like the US presidential race, we’ve seen Democrat hopeful Hillary Clinton tweet a link to a 4,000-character rebuke of possible Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Facebook’s character limit allows up to 63,206 characters, meaning Clinton’s essay could be posted directly to her Facebook timeline rather than sending people off-site through a link.
The Wall Street Journal concluded that “Housing more content, in theory, could keep people on its site and lure newbies who click on Twitter links within news stories or in Google’s search results. Once on Twitter, they may be served an ad, and if the company does it right, be enticed to sign up.”
“It may also help simplify what is still an arcane service to many. Most casual users won’t have the need–or will–to exhaust Twitter’s forthcoming bounty of 10,000 characters. They may, however, feel less frustrated by trying to keep within the confines of 140.”
Many companies could be forced to rethink their social media strategy once this change comes into effect in the near future. Beat the crowd and get in touch with Matrix Internet today to start a conversation about your social media and digital marketing strategy.
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By Matrix Internet
By Jeff Sheridan