Twitter将多数地区的字符限制提高至280个

Twitter在上周二宣布将把多数国家用户的字符限制提高至280个，这意味着社交媒体用户将有更多的空间，来发布各种推文，比如选举日的结果和泰勒•斯威夫特的最新消息等等。

该社交媒体服务从9月份开始测试提高最初的140个字符的限制，测试仅在一小部分用户中进行。当时，Twitter表示正在以包括英语在内的不同语言测试新特性。用户使用这些语言更有可能超出字符限制。（据Twitter表示，相比其他语言，日语、韩语和汉语可以用更少的字符来表达更多信息，所以使用这三种语言的Twitter用户，140个字符的限制保持不变。）

Twitter产品经理阿里扎•罗森在一篇博客中写道：“我们在九月份测试提高140个字符的限制，以便于全世界的所有人都能在一则推文中轻松表述自己的观点。我们的目标是在实现这个目的的同时，保持Twitter所特有的速度和简洁性。”

为期两个月的提高字符限制测试，引发了一些争议，有用户抱怨，更长的推文可能扰乱新闻的传播（有人认为，Twitter应该更专注于解决其他问题，例如在线骚扰和错误消息等）。但Twitter在周二表示，测试结果显示280个字符限制基本上不会影响服务。虽然获得280个字符测试资格的用户，最初确实发布了更长的推文，但Twitter表示，“行为规范化”的速度相对较快。

罗森写道：“我们看到当人们需要使用超过140个字符时，他们发布消息就会更容易，也会更频繁。但重要的是，人们多数情况下发布的推文并不会超过140个字符，所以依旧可以保证Twitter的简洁性。” Twitter表示，自九月份以来参加280个字符限制测试的少量用户中，仅有5%的推文超过了140个字符，只有2%超过190个字符。有百分之一的用户在测试期间达到了280个字符的限制，而相比之下，有9%的用户会达到140个字符的传统限制。

Twitter最终的目标是使其服务更易于用户使用，因为在如何实现更强劲的用户增长、如何创造更多收入和如何更有效地与Facebook等大型竞争对手展开竞争等方面，Twitter的能力遭到了外界的质疑。

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

Twitter said on Tuesday that it will roll out its new 280 character limit to users in most countries, which means more room for social media users to tweet about everything from Election Day results to the latest Taylor Swift news.

The social media service started testing posts that extended beyond its original 140 character limit in September, with only a small group of users. At the time, Twitter said it was testing the new feature in various languages, including English, in which users were more likely to run out of space. (According to Twitter, the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese languages are able to convey more with fewer characters than other languages, so users who tweet in those three languages will keep the 140 character limit.)

“In September, we launched a test that expanded the 140 character limit so every person around the world could express themselves easily in a Tweet,” Twitter product manager Aliza Rosen wrote in a blog post. “Our goal was to make this possible while ensuring we keep the speed and brevity that makes Twitter, Twitter.”

The two-month test of a higher character limit caused some controversy, with some Twitter users complaining that longer tweets could upset the flow of their newsfeeds (while others griped that Twitter should focus more on addressing other problems, such as online harassment and misinformation). But, the company said on Tuesday its tests revealed that the 280 character limit did not detract from the service, for the most part. While people who were given 280 characters initially posted longer tweets, Twitter said that “behavior normalized” relatively quickly.

“We saw when people needed to use more than 140 characters, they Tweeted more easily and more often. But importantly, people Tweeted below 140 most of the time and the brevity of Twitter remained,” Rosen wrote.

According to Twitter, among the small group of users who experimented with the 280 character limit since September, only 5% of tweets posted exceeded 140 characters, while only 2% were more than 190 characters. One percent of those users reached the 280 character limit during the test period, compared to 9% of users reaching the traditional limit when afforded 140 characters.

Twitter’s ultimate goal is to make its service more user-friendly, as the company continues to face questions about its ability to post stronger user growth, generate more revenue, and better compete with larger rivals like Facebook.