MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are waking up to a new day filled with new opportunities and 280-character tweets.

Twitter rolled out the expanded character limits to everyone on Tuesday, November 7 (November 8, Manila time). 

We’re expanding the character limit! We want it to be easier and faster for everyone to express themselves.

More characters. More expression. More of what’s happening.https://t.co/wBpYdy1K40

— Twitter (@Twitter) November 7, 2017

In a blog post explaining the update, Twitter product manager Aliza Rosen added that while many would likely take advantage of tweeting 280-character posts on the social media service, there was still a greater likelihood that people would still tweet under 140 characters, extending their tweets only when needed.

Said Rosen, “Only 5% of Tweets sent were longer than 140 characters and only 2% were over 190 characters. As a result, your timeline reading experience should not substantially change, you’ll still see about the same amount of Tweets in your timeline.”

The feature was initially tested by a small group, but should now be available for everyone using the mobile app or the website.  Users may need to refresh the website or update the app before acquiring the functionality. 

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages will maintain the 140-character maximum, however, as Rosen said cramming was “not an issue in these languages.” – Rappler.com