Twitter 10K Character Limit: These 7 Documents Changed The World In Less Than 10,000, So Why Do We Need That Many????

Twitter's 140-character limit is soon to skyrocket to 10,000, but is it really necessary?

“Twitter 10K” has been a trending hashtag today on the microblogging platform as lobbyists for and against the “Beyond 140” project Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey introduced to users this week, vied to have their opinions heard. According to Dorsey, Twitter is looking to expand its tweet character count from the signature 140 character text bytes to a whopping 10,000 characters. 10,000 of them, folks.

While some users have already been using 3^rd party platforms to tweet slightly longer offerings via image or link, the idea of 10,000 characters seems inconceivable to me. One of the features I’ve always appreciated about Twitter is the need for clarity and focus in getting across an idea in just 140 characters. With 10K allowed on Twitter in the near future, I feel my affinity for the platform waning.

Trying to look at the situation objectively, I wanted to consider what Dorsey must be thinking in increasing the limit so dramatically. With a proliferation of words rarely comes greater insights and clarity. If anything, if gives people more space to complain, channeling a very Facebook-like feel that I look to the platform to avoid.

Additionally, I think it might be difficult for many of us to even conceptualize just how much 10,000 characters is. Testing it out on several documents, 10,000 characters (spaces included) gives you anywhere from 1500 – 3,000 words. That’s 6-12 double-spaced pages of content for your school kids out there. That’s something like a 10-minute read. 10 minutes. WHO THE HELL READS ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET FOR 10 MINUTES??????? All I can say is, bae gonna catch me slippin...

The enormity of a Twitter 10K limit had me so bowled over I started to wonder in what situation we might even consider that necessary. That thought lead me to wonder about great speeches and documents that have impacted the world and the character count on those. Interestingly, in investigating that thought further, I found 7 world-changing speeches and documents that had under 10,000 characters. You might even be surprised which ones they are. Check them out below and then think about if Twitter 10K should really be a thing.

7 Documents That Changed The World In Under 10K

#1 - Declaration Of Independence (8,112 Characters)

#2 - Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address (1,450 Characters)

#3 - Susan B Anthony 1873 “Women’s Right To Vote” Speech (3,070 Characters)

#4 - V.I. Lenin’s 1917 “All Power To The Soviets” (3,011 Characters)

#5 - Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself” Speech (8,984 Characters)

#6 - John F. Kennedy 1961 “Ask Not” Inaugural Speech (7,614 Characters)

#7 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 1963 “I Have A Dream” Speech (4,780 Characters)

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