In late-2017, Twitter doubled the number of characters allowed in tweets from 140 to 280.
For some users, however, 280 character still aren't enough. So, if you have something important to say, you need to know how to write longer tweets. So here are seven easy ways to do just that.
1. TwitLonger
TwitLonger is perhaps the most well-known app for writing longer tweets; it's been around almost as long as Twitter itself.
It's easy to get started with TwitLonger. To begin, head to the TwitLonger website and click Write a Post in the upper right-hand corner. If it's your first time using the app, you will need to give TwitLonger permission to access your Twitter account.
When you're ready, type your tweet in the box, give it a title if you wish, and click Post It. On the final screen, you can click Reply to create a thread of longer tweets.
On the posted tweet, TwitLonger will add a link to the rest of your message. Anyone can access it; there is no way to restrict your longer tweet to specific users.
If you find yourself using the app a lot, you can subscribe for $1/month to remove the ads.
2. Take a Screenshot
This is a simple-yet-effective workaround for posting longer tweets. Using screenshots to write longer messages is a growing trend. You've probably seen people using the "cheat" in your own timeline.
The principle is simple. Use one of these note-taking apps for Android or iOS and write what you want to say. Just make sure it all fits on one screen.
Next, take a screenshot of what you've said and fire up the Twitter app. Tap on the new tweet icon and attach the screenshot to your tweet. You don't even need to write any text. When you're ready, press Tweet.
3. Create a Twitter Thread
Not long after the increase to 280 characters, Twitter launched its Threads feature. The feature lets you create a series of connected tweets than display in a continuous scroll format when viewed through the app. It's a way to tweet longer thoughts and ideas without relying on external apps and tools.
To create a thread on Twitter, start composing a tweet in the usual way. When you're ready to write the second tweet, click on the + button.
You can post an entire thread at the same time by clicking the Tweet all button. You can also add more tweets to a thread at a later time by selecting Continue Thread > Add to your last tweet from the Compose window. Click on the More icon (three horizontal dots) to continue older threads.
4. JumboTweet
JumboTweet is another easy-to-use web client for anyone that wants to make a long tweet. As with TwitLonger, you log into the site using your current Twitter credentials. You can write as much text as you like, and a link to your extended text will be included in your tweet.
Click Sign in with Twitter to get started. Once you've authenticated the app, you'll be redirected back to the message screen.
Go ahead and write your message, but before you post it, make sure you pay attention to the settings at the bottom of the page. JumboTweet maintains its own feed of content that was written in the app. To prevent your tweet from appearing in the company's feed, uncheck the box next to Display the post publicly on JumboTweet stream.
5. ControlC
ControlC is a great way to share any extended content with a lot of people online; it's not Twitter-specific. That said, it's a fantastic tool to use for longer tweets.
Unlike every other app we've covered, ControlC offers text formatting. You can edit font size, text style, text color, and more.
As such, it's a great way to quickly share longer content that extends beyond a simple few sentences. For example, perhaps you want to share some technical instructions or detailed directions and need to highlight certain parts of the text.
To use the app, write and format your text in the on-screen box. When you're ready, click Submit, and you'll get a link to share with other people. Sadly, you cannot send the link to Twitter directly from the web app.
6. Tweet Compressor
We've all written tweets that are a few characters too long and ended up scanning the text over and over for any little savings that can be found.
Rather than doing the hard work yourself, you should just paste your tweet into the Tweet Compressor site.
It uses unicode to replace specific two-letter combos with single characters. The compressible combinations are:
- cc
- ms
- ns
- ps
- in
- ls
- fi
- fl
- ffl
- ffi
- iv
- ix
- vi
- oy
- ii
- xi
- nj
- period followed by a space
- comma followed by a space
You can see what the Unicode replacements look like in the image. For those who don't know, Unicode is an IT standard that allows for the consistent encoding of all the world's writing systems. It has almost 150,000 characters in total.
Tweet Compressor uses single-character unicode replacements such as Roman numerals and scientific abbreviations.
7. Twishort
Twishort lets you write a long tweet and post it directly to Twitter.
However, the service really shines thanks to the iOS app and Chrome browser extension. The iOS and Chrome apps are the only way you can attach images and videos to the longer tweets you created on Twisort.
The app used to be available on Android too, but at the time of writing, it is no longer listed on the Google Play Store.
If you are using the web app, you can reply directly to another tweet with a long reply. You can also send a long tweet directly to another user via Twitter's mention feature.
How to Make Your Twitter Location Longer
We'll end with a tip about how to add a long location field to Twitter.
In theory, Twitter limits the Location field to 30 characters. However, there is a workaround, but you'll need to use a third-party app called Twitterrific. It lets you add more text which Twitter will recognise and save. Unfortunately, we can't promise how long this workaround will continue to work for.
Learn More About Using Twitter
Learning how to write longer tweets is just one small part of becoming a Twitter power user. But there are plenty of other tips for beginners which will help you get more out of the social media app.
