On Wednesday, Twitter announced the launch of a long-form blogging feature that will allow users to expand on its 280-character limit.
Twitter is famous for its requirement to curtail a thought into a mere 280 characters. While Twitter threads are a popular way to circumnavigate that cap, TechCrunch first reported that a new blogging feature from the social media website would allow users to publish long form blog posts on Twitter. Soon after that report, Twitter confirmed that it’s testing “Twitter Write” a blogging product where users post “Notes”—or, you know, blogs.
The feature was teased earlier this month by tech blogger Nima Owji, who posted a screenshot of artwork from Twitter Write. Screenshots posted last month by app researcher Jane Wong show what the interface of the blogging feature will probably look like.
Twitter Article looks pretty polished at this stage pic.twitter.com/oAc6LXCKOy
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 4, 2022
According to Wong’s screenshots, users may be able to use different headings, post photos, and embed tweets into their blog posts. Wong told me via DM that she stumbled upon the feature way back in February of this year while exploring the website’s code, and explained to me that “Twitter Articles” was a codename and the feature would likely be called “Notes.” Twitter’s Senior Product Director Tony Haile confirmed the existence of the layout by quoting the tweet published by Wong, who said the layout looked “pretty polished,” with a simple “yes it does.” Twitter didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment, and there’s no official word on when the feature will be available for the average user.
Twitter has come a long way from its humble 140-character beginnings. The website doubled its offering to allow users to post up to 280 characters per tweet in 2017. Three years later, Twitter made it easier to add tweets to a thread, which may have been the first signal in their pivot to hosting longer form content.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1539640956915290112
Update 12:34PM: This article has been updated to include Twitter’s announcement of the new feature.
