17 May 2016

Twitter to stop counting photos, links in 140 characters

12:15 pm on 17 May 2016

Twitter users will soon have more flexibility, with the company planning to stop including photos and links as part of its 140-character limit, according to a Bloomberg report.

Twitter logo on cellphone screen

Photo: 123RF

The social media platform has faced stagnant user growth and, a few months ago, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said the company would simplify its product in an effort to attract new users.

"We think there's a lot of opportunity in our product to fix some broken windows that we know are inhibiting growth," Mr Dorsey said during a February earnings call.

Links currently take up to 23 characters of a tweet, limiting the amount of commentary that users can offer when sharing articles or other content.

Twitter shares have fallen more than 70 percent over the past year.

Twitter declined to comment on the report.

- Reuters

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