Twitter to remove 140-character limit from direct messages

However, the 140-character limit on tweets will remain in place. “We’ve done a lot to improve Direct Messages over the past year and have much more exciting work on the horizon. One change coming in July that we want to make you aware of now (and first!) is the removal of the 140 character limit in Direct Messages,” Twitter Product Manager (Direct Messages) Sachin Agarwal said in a <g data-gr-id="45">blogpost</g> for developers.

Direct messages in other rival social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn do not have such length limits. “You may be wondering what this means for the public side of Twitter. Nothing! Tweets will continue to be the 140 characters they are on Friday,” he added.

In April this year, Twitter had started giving users the option of receiving private direct messages from people they do not “follow” on the website. Earlier only individuals that followed each other on twitter were able to exchange direct messages. The company has grown its monthly active users by 18 <g data-gr-id="37">per cent</g> over last year to 302 million. 

Meanwhile, in a surprising find, several firms on Fortune Magazine’s list of America’s most admired companies are failing to achieve basic social media standards, scientists say. “We were surprised that not all the companies had a Twitter account, for instance, and not every company had a Facebook <g data-gr-id="47">page,</g> or a YouTube page,” said Marcia DiStaso, associate professor of public relations, at Pennsylvania State University.

“There are top companies that don’t have a Facebook page, but just used an entry from their Wikipedia page,” DiStaso said. The companies included in the study appeared on Fortune’s most admired companies list in 2012. While 95 <g data-gr-id="51">per cent</g> of the 417 most admired companies on the list had a Facebook page, 51 <g data-gr-id="52">per cent</g> were basic Wikipedia-fed pages. For example, ExxonMobil and Berkshire Hathaway, two of the world’s biggest companies, only have default Wikipedia page holders as their Facebook home. On an industry basis, companies in the consumer packaged goods industry, such as Coca-Cola and Coach, did the best across all three major social media platforms - Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. “When you think about the social media platforms we looked at, it’s easier to communicate your content and that content resonates easier if you’re in the consumer packaged goods industry,” said DiStaso.

“Coca-Cola could post or send out a picture of a cute animal with a bottle of Coke which, as content, isn’t as hard to deliver, and you usually also have very passionate followers who will like it,” said DiStaso. The companies in the study had a better handle on Twitter and YouTube, according to the researchers. A total of 82 <g data-gr-id="40">per cent</g> of the companies had a Twitter account and 72 <g data-gr-id="41">per cent</g> had a YouTube account.

One industry that struggles particularly with social media is the health care industry. However, the researchers speculated that this may be because the industry is heavily regulated. 

<g data-gr-id="94">Micro-blogging</g> site Twitter on Friday said its Chief Executive Dick Costolo will step down from his position, effective July 1.