It all began as a joke, perhaps even a dare or a bet that somehow, somewhere along the way, derailed and snowballed into an epic battle over the ownership of one of the most mainstream social media companies of modern times. Elon Musk’s Twitter bid is a story that most people are familiar with by now, and weary of hearing spoken like a fabled tale passed down through generations, each version getting more distorted than the next like a game of Chinese whispers.
But as reality still adjusts to an era governed by a private tech mogul having absolute authority over a platform that witnesses billion-strong users participating and exchanging dialogue and opinions every second of every day, Musk continues on with his crusade of proving he can manage an industry just as well as he can build machines – or at least employ engineers to do it for him.
Also read: “After Spending $44 Billion?”: Elon Musk Resigning as the CEO of Twitter Sparks a Heated Debate
Elon Musk’s Saga of Twitter Changes Continue Into 2023
The time that Twitter has spent warping itself into its modern out-of-cocoon phase had extended a little over 6 months, having begun on 14 April 2022 and formally closing on October 27 of the same year. Elon Musk’s long game, however, is another story entirely. The South African-American businessman had started buying shares of the company in January 2022 and within the next four months became its largest shareholder, with a 9.1% ownership stake. That eventually steamrolled Musk’s online bid to acquire Twitter, marking an unprecedented period of transformation and controversy.
After reinstating banned accounts and vocally promoting the right to free speech, Musk landed in hot water more than once when the platform witnessed a mass boycott, an anomalous number of employees were fired and then hired back, and accounts were allowed to be blue-check verified for a monthly payment of 8 dollars. The ensuing chaos as a result of the latter caused a global crash in the stock prices of a major pharmaceutical company.
Now, in the latest flurry of changes, the SpaceX owner has dictated his intention of introducing a 4000-character system in contrast to the micro-blogging platform’s current limit of 280.
Twitter’s New 4000-Character Count Invites Mass Ridicule
The new character count on Twitter is about to increase drastically. Earlier, Twitter users suggesting the platform’s character count to be increased from an “annoying 280″ to 420 had been received positively by Elon Musk, with the CEO replying to one such tweet – “Good idea.” But, at the time, no progress had been made on that front considering the catastrophic storm that the CEO had been handling from all sides.
By the end of November 2022, the CEO had declared his intentions of introducing long-form tweets – “Twitter will soon add [the] ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending [the] absurdity of notepad screenshots.” However, the news is not being received without criticism by the users.
The previous system only allowed Twitter users to attach a screenshot image containing their long-form message with their tweets, essentially encapsulating the content within a single post or in continuation via a Twitter thread. Musk’s new system will not only abolish the practice but radically change the face of the platform from its current micro-blogging status.
Source: Twitter
