It’s official: Twitter announces character count and @reply changes

Twitter made a pretty big announcement Wednesday, and it’s something that many users have requested. The company has officially announced that it will soon neglect to count image links and @replies towards the 140 character limit.

This effectively means that users can now dedicate all of those 140 characters to actual written content within tweets.

“In the coming months we’ll make changes to simplify Tweets including what counts toward your 140 characters, so for instance, @names in replies and media attachments (like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls) will no longer “use up” valuable characters,” the company’s senior product manager Todd Sherman explained in Twitter’s blog.

And if that’s a bit too vague, Sherman elaborated on each major change.

“When replying to a Tweet, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count. This will make having conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group.”

This is also true now with embedded media.

“When you add attachments like photos, GIFs, videos, polls, or Quote Tweets, that media will no longer count as characters within your Tweet. More room for words!,” he exclaims.

Users can also now self-pimp or retweet themselves too, and beyond that, Twitter is also getting rid of the .@username convention to broadcast replies to Twitter’s global audience.

“These changes will help simplify the rules around Tweets that start with a username,” Sherman adds.

Twitter will be rolling out these changes in the coming months, but there’s no set date. The company aims to give developers adequate time to tweak their apps in accordance to Twitter’s new strategy.

Do you like these changes? Hate them? Do you think they’ll ruin the experience? Let us know in the comments section below.