How listening to people changed the rules of Twitter (or X)

A story 280 characters long

We have been talking about the future of Twitter for a long time now, already in 2017 we were wondering what its evolution would be.

Six years later here we are again wondering about the latest news.

Where we started from

Twitter (or rather call it X?) has always been a space of immediacy; From the beginning, with its character limit, it pushed people to express themselves concisely. However, in recent times, it seems that Elon Musk’s famous social network is looking for new ways to evolve and adapt to changes in social dynamics.

One of the most significant innovations was the increase in characters per tweet, from 140 to 280. This allowed users to express their thoughts in more detail, encouraging reasoned and complex discussions. But it is precisely from this perspective that Twitter seems to be rediscovering its potential.

It has become more and more like a micro-blogging platform, where users can share extended thoughts through “threads“. These threads allow you to link multiple tweets together, creating a continuous narrative flow. This feature has sparked interest among users who want to share longer stories or discuss complex topics in one big conversation.

Meta and Twitter: competing?

However, it is interesting to note how this evolution of Twitter puts it in direct competition with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, which is investing in “meta threads“, allowing users to create extensive and branched discussions. In other words, what Zuckerberg is trying to do is bring the concept of Twitter threads to a larger scale by integrating it with his own social platforms.

But do people really need more space to express themselves?

The comparison between Twitter threads and Meta threads opens the way to a reflection on the future of social media. The trend seems to be to offer users more space to express themselves and connect thoughts, creating deeper and more engaging conversations. However, this also raises questions about usability and understanding: threads that are too long may discourage reading and active participation.

So, how might Twitter evolve in the future? It could continue to expand the length of tweets or focus on new features that encourage more nuanced discussions.

However, it is essential that Twitter maintains its distinctive identity: the speed in communication that has characterized its nature so far. Maintaining a balance between the breadth of content and usability will be essential to prevent users from feeling overwhelmed.

In conclusion, Twitter is certainly trying to expand its horizons and embrace more complex forms of communication, also in light of the competition with Meta. The future could see a convergence between similar platforms, but it is important that each evolution respects people’s identity and needs.