Facebook announced that it is increasing the character limit on status updates. In a status update on the Facebook + Journalists page, the company wrote:
“In September, we increased the character limit on status updates to 5,000 characters. Today, we’re announcing that you can now write posts with more than 60,000 characters.”
They also shared the following graphic:
The first thing this says to me is that Facebook recognizes the value of the blog-like posts that appear frequently on its new rival Google+. Quora, which has been popular among influencers, is also good for this kind of post. Facebook clearly doesn’t want these types of people, which include journalists and bloggers (hence the FB Page on which it was announced) to not think of Facebook as a good place to put these kinds of updates.
In fact, the company has been trying to become a more useful tool for journalists for a while now. The recent open graph announcements are strong indicator that the publishing side is working effectively. In April, Facebook launched the Journalists on Facebook Page and a journalist workshop program.
“As newsrooms become more social, the Page will provide a place for journalists to connect with each other, as well as have access to best practices for integrating the latest Facebook products with their work and connecting with the Facebook audience of more than 500 million people,” a Facebook spokesperson told us at the time.
The number is more like 800 million these days.
The whole thing is just another example of how the major social networks continue to become more and more similar to one another. I wonder when Twitter will drop the 140 character limit it has always been known for.
We have to wonder if Facebook is going to phase out its “notes” feature, which has essentially served as Facebook’s blogging feature.
