Micro-blogging service halves vapid celebs’ character limits to 70.
Potomac, MD–May 21, 2010. In an apparently unprecedented move that is already triggering outrage among free speech advocates, Twitter, the world’s leading micro-blogging service for self-absorbed early adopters, is planning to reduce the character limit for @SarahPalinUSA and @kimkardashian, two of its most active and famous users, by 50% to 70 characters, according to sources within Twitter’s customer care group.
Twitter also warned the pop star and the reality icon/model of a possible delisting from the service if they don’t make their tweets less vapid.
The source within Twitter, who asked that his @name not be used as the company does not comment on individual user accounts, went on to say, “Look, we have a responsibility to rein in the @inanity and @randomness wherever we can, and what better place to start than with the most visible random and inane users?”
Free speech experts see the random reduction of character limits as a dangerous precedent. According to Pollo D’Barbosa of the Freedome to Tweet Foundation in Caracas, VZ, “We acknowledge the stupidity of some of these tweets and the seeming uselessness of Twitter in general, but the power of free speech supersedes such superciliousness.”
Marketing and communications expert Bob London, president of marketing consulting firm London, Ink, speculated that the reduction in character limits would not impact the stars’ ability to connect with followers. “If you’re the type of person who follows something that is inane and worthless to begin with, are you really going to notice if it is reduced by half?” said London.
Spokes-tweeters for @kimkardashian and @SarahPalinUSA declined to respond to Twitter DM’s for this story.
