Things are about to get significantly different for users of the popular microblogging service Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR) as the company rolls out changes to its platform.
Probably the biggest change will be with character counts. Previously, usernames and links counted towards the 140-character limit. Now, users replying to other users won’t need to be as succinct. They can use all 140 characters for their content.
Users can also re-tweet or quote re-tweet themselves, and they won’t have to put a character in front of a reply to ensure all their followers see it. Followers will automatically see tweets that begin with a username.
The company first announced these improvements back in May, giving ample time to third-party developers to make changes to their Twitter clients. Monday is the first official day changes will be available to all users.
Twitter is struggling with multiple issues that have kept the company’s share price down, including weak demand for sponsored tweets, allegations abuse runs rampant on the platform, and a management team many investors perceive as weak. Investor cash has responded by flooding into Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), which has a $372-billion market cap. The value of Twitter is just $13.6 billion.
Twitter users are largely applauding this move, but many feel the changes don’t go far enough. Other changes users requested are the ability to edit already-posted tweets, and something that’ll make it easy for users to report abuse.
Twitter shares slumped during Monday’s trading, falling $0.73, or 3.8%, to $18.39 each.
