Twitter trials 280 character tweets - but only for select users, not hoi polloi

Twitter proposes to double the nonsense per tweet

Twitter has begun trialling 280 character-length tweets, double the traditional 140, in a bid to attract more users to the struggling platform.

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey suggested that the move would help users better express themselves, by tweeting a verbose 280-character tweet announcing the trial.

The move is being trialled by select users in all countries, with the exception of Japan. If the trial is deemed successful, the company will roll it out to all users at a later date.

Twitter was designed ten years ago in the age of the 160-character SMS text message, and intended to convey short, sharp messages that could be embedded in web pages, convey alerts and so on. Many users, though, resort to linked 'threads' to convey longer thoughts/ramblings/nonsense.

In a blog post announcing the trial, Twitter explains that the move will level the playing field compared to languages such as Chinese and Japanese where the same Tweet can take just a few characters.

It explains: "Although we feel confident about our data and the positive impact this change will have, we want to try it out with a small group of people before we make a decision to launch to everyone.

"What matters most is that this works for our community - we will be collecting data and gathering feedback along the way. We're hoping fewer Tweets run into the character limit, which should make it easier for everyone to Tweet"

Twitter has been losing ground to other platforms, particularly Instagram, and a resurgent Facebook which is enjoying something of a renaissance as Generation Z resigns itself to the fact that their parents are all on there too. Meanwhile, Twitter and Snapchat remain sluggish.

Although relatively popular in the UK and US, Twitter is still struggling to attract users and struggles to return a consistent profit. It floated in 2014, but hasn't been able to emulate the success of Facebook.

The decision is an extension of the earlier experiment to discount Twitter handles and hashtags from replies, enabling more to be shoe-horned into the 140 characters allowed.

Users have traditionally been resistant to change, but have nevertheless stuck with it.