This just in: Twitter has expanded its social media format, doubling the number of characters one can use to communicate this and/or that musing.
I have no idea what it means for me. I use the medium in a fairly limited fashion. I use it to distribute posts on High Plains Blogger. I retweet others’ messages that I find interesting, provocative or entertaining. I also send out my own commentary on topics of the moment.
Since I signed up on Twitter about six years ago, I found the 140-character limit to be restrictive. I got used to it over time.
Now we get 280 characters to fire off whatever message we choose to send out.
It appears that the tweeter in chief — the guy who also serves as president of the United States — might really bask in this format. Knock yourself out, Mr. President.
I learned during my years in print journalism to “write tight.” Don’t take too much newsprint space to tell whatever story you are asked to tell. I’ve heard many editors scream at reporters for writing too much to fill an eight- or 10-inch hole on a given page.
To that end, Twitter has turned “tight writing” into an art form. I thought I was pretty good at expressing myself in just 140 characters. Now we’re going to double that amount.
I don’t know how to act.