Twitter Articles could enable longer-form tweets
Right now, information on this feature is scarce, but the concept is pretty straightforward. @wongmjane on Twitter shows us a screenshot of a section on Twitter named “Twitter Articles.” It didn’t show us any actual articles, so the feature might still be in the very early stages. From what we can guess, Twitter Articles might be a method for us to write longer-form tweets. People have been wanting ways to share even longer posts on Twitter. 240 characters gave us more room to write, but it doesn’t provide enough sometimes. Some ideas just need to have more real estate. It appears that Twitter doesn’t want to increase the average tweet length; rather, it will add a separate section for those. That seems weird, but Twitter has always been about short thoughts and ideas. Social media platforms like Facebook and Reddit allow people to fully express their ideas, but Tweets are just quick thoughts.
How will people see these?
This brings up the question of how people will see the articles. Twitter Articles will bring longer-form tweets, and this means that they will take up more space. Will Twitter keep them sequestered away in their own tab, or will the articles occupy the feed? If the articles stay in their own section, then potential readers will need to navigate to them. That sounds tedious, but Twitter could probably preview the articles in your main feed. The company could add a “Read More” button under the preview which will take the reader to the article. Twitter could either do that or just expand the article to full size when you click on it. That’s all just speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.
We can’t rule out Twitter Blue exclusivity
Twitter Blue offers users some exclusive perks, and it costs only $2.99/month. You get the ability to undo tweets, zero removed, and other minor perks. It’s very possible that this feature could be exclusive to the paid subscription plan. Being able to write longer-form tweets is something that people wanted, so Twitter Articles could be a smash hit feature. This means that if it was made a Twitter Blue feature, it might entice people to jump on.
