There have been rumors for months that Twitter was considering expanding its character limit from the historic 140. From the sound of it, that’s going to happen really soon.

According to a new report from Re/code citing multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans, Twitter intends to launch the expanded character limit by the end of Q1. Word is that it will be 10,000 characters, but that’s not set in stone.

Of course all of these characters won’t just show up in your timeline. You’ll have to click to expand, with Twitter apparently keeping the 140 in check in that capacity.

This is a major move for Twitter, which has always stood by its character limitation, wearing it as a badge of honor in simplicity. Times change, however, and growth isn’t happening the way Twitter needs it to. It’s time for some changes.

As a regular Twitter user, I personally think it’s a fine idea. The simplicity will be maintained in the timeline view, and the additional content will be there if you want it, as will the option to compose it. Cutting tweets down to 140 characters can be a pain at times, so this could be refreshing.

Twitter recently expanded the character count of Direct Messages to 10,000, which has been a very welcome addition to the service.

What will be interesting will be to see if regular significantly change their tweeting habits with the option to keep typing. Will they trust that people will care enough to click and read more?

Of course third-party apps have enabled this type of functionality for quite some time, but having it natively available on Twitter will mean a much bigger change to the Twitter experience for everyone.

Image via Twitter