The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
The longer Twitter exists, the longer the content becomes on the social media site. Back in Ye Old Days of original Twitter, tweets could have a maximum of 140 characters. Then, Twitter doubled the character count to 280 and no longer counted links or images in the character count.
Yet for all of Twitter’s generosity in allowing for longer tweets, people still wanted more. And more. So Twitter threads emerged where people posted their thoughts in a series of tweets.
But threads were often difficult to follow so people would ask the bot @threadreaderapp to “unroll” a thread, unifying a thread into text to make it more easily readable.
Twitter Blue, the paid Twitter service, also offers a thread reader to make deciphering threads easier.
Don’t miss => Twitter Blue — Is It Best for You?
About Twitter Notes
But even with longer tweets and Twitter threads, people want even more. At least Twitter thinks they do…
So Twitter is testing Notes, a new way of publishing long-form content on Twitter. The company announced Twitter Notes in a tweet:
A small group of writers are helping us test Notes. They can be read on and off Twitter, by people in most countries. pic.twitter.com/IUVVkr2vnl
— Twitter Write (@TwitterWrite) June 22, 2022
With Twitter Notes, users can craft long-form content, including embedded tweets, videos, and images, and publish it directly to Twitter. Notes are much like blog posts, without the need of running your own website.
Here’s a sample Note published on Twitter:
Bethany Brookshire (@BeeBrookshire), ‘Save the galaxy, eat a porg?’ https://t.co/omnFvmP6Jo
— Twitter Write (@TwitterWrite) June 22, 2022
How Twitter Notes Works
As stated in its tweet, Twitter is testing Notes on a “small group of writers.” Notes published by the testers can be read by Twitter users “in almost any country,” according to Twitter. Some of those writers who have been testing Notes are kind enough to share their experiences with Notes via tweets, giving us a sneak peek into the new Notes feature.
To begin drafting a Note, choose the Write section of Twitter in the side menu. (If you don’t see Write as an option, then you most likely aren’t in the small group of writers testing Twitter Notes.)
You can then begin creating a Note or continue editing a draft Note.
The draft section of Twitter Notes seems to have a Focus mode to eliminate distractions on the screen.
The Twitter Article Composer now comes with a “Focus Mode” (that button on the top-right) that expands the composer to the full screen, hides away the side bars pic.twitter.com/oOhyM1IIWs
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 4, 2022
Twitter also seems to be incorporating Twitter Circles into Notes, giving you the opportunity to publish your Note to the entire Twitterverse or only to one of your Twitter Circles:
#Twitter will let you tweet your article or copy its link when you want to publish it. pic.twitter.com/MJKAZv6pmL
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) April 6, 2022
Learn more about Twitter Circles at => Twitter Circle — A New Feature That Lets You Limit Who Sees Your Tweets
You can find an account’s Twitter Notes on their profile page. Look for a Notes section between Tweets & Replies and Media:
Twitter has not yet announced when or if Notes will be made available to all Twitter users.
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of Twitter Notes and longer-form content? Would you enjoy reading Twitter Notes or would you prefer shorter tweets? Would you use Twitter Notes to publish long-form content?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
I don’t think I’ll like it because I like tweets short and sweet and we have threads too where you can make a long succession of tweets.
I think all the social media networks make too many changes to the original network that we love.
I think the real difference will be for the content creator. Tweet authors can make richer tweets to share content if they don’t have a website where they can create the content. Would we give up our websites to publish Twitter Notes instead? Doubtful.
Twitter has grown more powerful over the years and it seems that the company is looking for ways to expand its reach with more opportunities for sharing richer content without people going to a third-party site to read it.