Twitter testing Notes, a long-form content feature

Twitter's Notes lets you go beyond 280 characters and include photos, videos, GIFs and Tweets.

Chat with SearchBot

Twitter is testing a new feature that would eliminate the constraints of its 280-character tweet limit and allow users to publish long-form tweets.

Twitter confirmed the test via a tweet.

When this will become available to all Twitter users? It’s unclear. Twitter noted: “We’re excited for the moment when everyone can use Notes, but for now, our focus is on building it right. A large part of that is engaging with writers and building community.”

For now, Twitter plans to test it over the next two months with a small group of writers from Canada, Ghana, the UK and the U.S.

Why we care. This could be the solution to those long Twitter threads, introduced in 2017. While those numbered threads had the ability to generate more engagement (e.g., reactions, replies), they were also incredibly hard to follow – especially spin-off conversations.

What it looks like. In Twitter Notes, it looks like you will be able to add:

  • Formatting: Bold, italic and strikethrough text; insert ordered/unordered lists; add links.
  • Media: You can add one GIF, one video, or up to four images.
  • Tweets: You can either embed tweets by pasting URLs or from bookmarked tweets.

Notes also has a “Focus mode,” that makes the article composer full-screen.

You can see some screenshots shared in a thread by @wongmjane.

The continued homogenization of social media platforms. Just about every platform right now is trying to duplicate popular features from other platforms (especially TikTok) in an effort to stay relevant. Twitter is no exception.

But this new-to-Twitter feature – if it becomes widely adopted – would basically put an end to what initially made Twitter unique: its reliance on brevity.

Elon Musk approves. Earlier this year, in response to a long (and interesting) thread by former Reddit CEO Yishan Wong about Musk’s bid to buy Twitter, Musk pointed out that long-form tweets were long overdue on Twitter.

Formerly known as Twitter Articles. This feature was first spotted in February


About the author

Danny Goodwin
Staff
Danny Goodwin has been Managing Editor of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo - SMX since 2022. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.

Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.