Users of Twitter will soon be able to pack more text into their 140 character tweets as a result of changes announced by the microblogging platform today.
The changes will mean media attachments, like photos and videos, will no longer count towards the character limit.
Characters included in @names mentioned in the replies to tweets will also be not be counted in the 140 character limit synonymous with the platform.
The company also said that people will now be able to 'retweet' and 'quote tweet' themselves, enabling them to resurface any of their previous tweets and add new commentary. Any new tweet beginning with an @name will be seen by all followers.
In the coming months, we're introducing new ways for you to express even more with a Tweet: https://t.co/l1sWRvXWqr pic.twitter.com/zzhWpRcABs
— Twitter (@twitter) May 24, 2016
In a statement, Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey said that refining the product and making it simpler was a key priority for 2016.
"We're focused on making Twitter a whole lot easier and faster," he said
"This is what Twitter is great at - what's happening now, live conversation and the simplicity that we started the service with."
He also claimed the changes would not compromise the immediacy of Twitter, or impact on the brevity, speed and live conversation of the microblogging system.
The move is part of an overall strategy by Twitter to grow its stagnant user base, and increase revenues.
Twitter's share price has fallen by almost two thirds in the past year, over concern about the direction of the company.
Earlier this year, Twitter introduced a controversial optional algorithm feature that enabled users' timelines to show content it thought they were most likely to be interested in.
Despite opposition to the changes from many users, the company said today that the enhanced timeline has been positive with less than 2% of people opting out, and increased engagement from people on Twitter.
The changes will be implemented in the coming months, Twitter said.
