Since Elon Musk took over the company, Twitter has seen a number of changes, but the biggest might be just over the corner.
Twitter is working on a feature called Articles that will let users upload long, multi-media postings that exceed the character restriction of a typical tweet.
When Taiwanese writer Fausto Chou reported that a still-experimental feature called Twitter Notes had been rebranded as Articles in a tweet, Musk appeared to corroborate this.
Elon Musk Tweet on New Feature of Twitter
Musk elaborated that Articles would “allow users to post very long, complex articles with mixed media.” Never afraid to use hyperbole, Musk added, “You could publish a book if you want,” implying the feature’s character limit will be limitless.
This will allow users to post very long, complex articles with mixed media. You could publish a book if you want.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2023
Only verified users can currently tweet longer than 280 characters, with a 10,000 character cap. Though technically not a tweet, a longer Articles article would appear on a different feed.
However, users will have the option to immediately tweet their articles to their feed, enabling sharing, bookmarking, and retweeting.
Users will also be able to apply rich formatting, embed images, gifs, and videos, as well as add tweets from other users, resulting in fully mixed-media content. Once published, articles will show up on a user’s profile.
The goal of Articles appears to be to provide users with tools for creating and sharing material that are comparable to those found on other long-form content platforms like Medium and Substack.
Before Musk acquired the business in October 2022, Twitter had created Notes as an experimental feature.
Even though Musk hasn’t stopped discussing changes to the business since then, this is the first time the Notes feature has received official recognition.
Even if it’s still in development, it seems more and more plausible that it will eventually go public.
If Articles will be restricted to premium subscribers alone is unknown, as it has been with many new services since Musk took over Twitter.
Incentivizing users to pay a monthly subscription price for verification with numerous benefits, such having their comments prioritized, has been one of the largest changes to the company since his takeover.
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