Here's how to up your Twitter character limit to the coveted 280 (2024)

Many of you may have heard that Twitter is planning to increase its character limit to 280 in the near future. Some users are even reaping the benefits of that update now as the social media site tests the feature. If you're not one of them, you can still take matters into your own hands and activate the new limit for yourself. According to 9to5Mac and TNW, here's how. (Note: There are multiple approaches that people have devised in order to get the extra characters — these are just the most hassle-free.)

First, you have to make sure you have the "Develop" menu enabled. You can achieve that by doing the following:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click "Safari" on the menu bar to open Safari settings.
3. Click "Preferences."
4. Click on the tab that says "Advanced."
5. Check the box at the very bottom next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar."

Now to get those sweet, sweet characters.

1. Make sure you're logged into Twitter.
2. Open Tweetdeck for web.
3. Click the quill in the top left of the screen as though you're going to compose a new tweet.
4. Click "Develop" on your Safari menu bar.
5. Click "Show Web Inspector."
6. Click on the "Elements" tab within the Web Inspector.
7. Copy the following code:TD.services.TwitterClient.prototype.makeTwitterCall=function(b,e,f,g,c,d,h){c=c||function(){};d=d||function(){};b=this.request(b,{method:f,params:Object.assign(e,{weighted_character_count:!0}),processor:g,feedType:h});return b.addCallbacks(function(a){c(a.data)},function(a){d(a.req,"",a.msg,a.req.errors)}),b}; twttrTxt=Object.assign({},twttr.txt,{isInvalidTweet:function(){return!1},getTweetLength:function(){return twttr.txt.getTweetLength.apply(this,arguments)-140}});
8. Paste that code into the very bottom of the "Elements" section of the Web Inspector, next to the little chevron (>) symbol.
9. Hit the return key on your keyboard.
10. Tweet to your heart's content!

1. Open your Chrome browser.
2. Make sure you're logged into Twitter.
3. Open Tweetdeck for web.
4. Click the quill in the top left of the screen as though you're going to compose a new tweet.
5. Click "View" on your Chrome menu bar.
6. Hover over "Developer" at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
7. Select "Developer Tools."
8. Click on the "Sources" tab within the Developer Tools window.
9. Next to where it says "Content scripts" in the Sources section, you'll see a double chevron (>>). Click it.
10. Select "Snippets."
11. Click "New Snippet."
12. Copy the following code:TD.services.TwitterClient.prototype.makeTwitterCall=function(b,e,f,g,c,d,h){c=c||function(){};d=d||function(){};b=this.request(b,{method:f,params:Object.assign(e,{weighted_character_count:!0}),processor:g,feedType:h});return b.addCallbacks(function(a){c(a.data)},function(a){d(a.req,"",a.msg,a.req.errors)}),b}; twttrTxt=Object.assign({},twttr.txt,{isInvalidTweet:function(){return!1},getTweetLength:function(){return twttr.txt.getTweetLength.apply(this,arguments)-140}});
13. Paste it into the empty window on the right.
14. At the bottom of the window, you'll see a little play button. Click it to play the snippet.
15. Voilà! Tweet away.

Alternatively, you can use this ultra-quick javascript method crafted for Chrome by Juliette Pretot:

1. Add the link in this post to your bookmarks bar.
2. Go to Tweetdeck for web.
3. Click the 280 bookmark in your bookmarks bar.
4. Tweet in celebration of your victory.

Depending on how you feel about Tweetdeck, this hack can be a bit of a "masking tape and paper clips" fix. However, it seems to be the only method if you just can't wait to share your infinite wisdom.

Now that you've dramatically increased your character limit, fair warning: power can also be a great burden.

Thoughts?

How are you going to wield the 280 character limit? Do you think it's an excessive annoyance or do you like the extra space? Could you care less? Let us know in the comments or use the extra 140 characters to send us a really long tweet about your opinion on Twitter!