According to a press release by Twitter, the 280-character limit which has been adopted by the popular platform may have, amusingly, contributed to more space allocated for Arabic language users to use expressions of politeness. It has been exactly one year since Twitter deviated from its 140 characters to its 280 character limit, allowing users more space for delivering their opinions and sharing news. Accordingly, the website decided to release its data on the limit impact on the occasion of the decision’s anniversary. Twitter analysed seven languages in order to assess the impact. ”Twitter found that since the doubling of the character limit, there has been a rise in the use of words such as ‘please’ (+54%) and ‘thank you’ (+22%). In Arabic, there’s been an 83%, 56%, 44% and 30% rise in the use of الرجاء (please), لو سمحت (excuse me), شكرا (thank you), and أرجوك (please) respectively,” read the statement. The new character limit also impacted English positively, with less words written in abbreviations in favor of properly and completely written words. This was particularly noticeable with ‘gr8’ (-36%), ‘b4’ (-13%) and ‘sry’ (-5%) declined in favour of ‘great’ (+32%) ‘before’ (+70%), and ‘sorry’ (+31%)….
Please, Thank You: Twitter 280-character Limit Made Arabic Tweets More Polite!
October 31, 2018
