--- title: "Twitter Rumours, Updates and Outages: What Do They Mean?" description: Twitter rumours about a 100k character limit increase, Moments, Polls and the new heart icon 'like' button. image: https://www.thriveability.co.uk/hubfs/Blog_Featured-Images/SOCIAL-MEDIA-TWIT1.jpg --- [![Thrive Logo](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/hubfs/thrive-logo-pink-1.svg)](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/) - [What We Do](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/what-we-do) - [About](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/about-us) - [Approach](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/approach) - [Work](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/work) - [Blog](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/blog) - [Contact](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/contact) Blog # Twitter Rumours, Updates and Outages: What Do They Mean? January 22, 2016 7 Minute Read By Sarah Burns ## On February 19th we seen one of the lengthiest and widespread outages on Twitter in the UK - it came days after rumours about a major platform update that was said to be in the works. Twitter has been a major player in the social media scene for a number of years and for businesses, arguably, it remains the most powerful. So, when it goes down (see [#twitterdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/twitterdown?src=tren)) it becomes national news and frustrates millions of us!  News outlets including [The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/19/twitter-down-over-web-and-mobile), [ITV](http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-01-19/twitter-down-due-to-technical-problem/), [The Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/12107332/twitter-goes-down.html) and [CNBC](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/19/twitter-outage-website-mobile-apps-down.html) all reported on the 'technical problem' that caused the outage.  Interestingly, just days before this outage, rumours leaked that the platform was due to update its approach to character limits - in fact, it was going to increase its 140 character limit for tweets to an astonishing 10,000 characters!  Sky News [reported that](http://news.sky.com/story/1617605/twitter-may-launch-10000-character-tweets) Twitter's stock fell to an all-time-low when this announcement was made - so perhaps it won't go ahead? Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and Chief Executive, tweeted at the beginning of January his opinion of the 140 character tweet limit: > [pic.twitter.com/bc5RwqPcAX](https://t.co/bc5RwqPcAX) > > — Jack (@jack) [January 5, 2016](https://twitter.com/jack/status/684496529621557248) Would you like to see a 10,000 character limit or do you like the 140 character limit? It would certainly be interesting to see how it affected the way we use Twitter.  ### Moments and Polls This rumour swiftly followed on from the addition of 'Moments', which is essentially a round-up of all of the biggest stories and updates on Twitter in real-time. See example:   ![twitter-moments.png](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Images/content-imgs/twitter-moments.png?width=1024&name=twitter-moments.png "twitter-moments.png") Polls are also a recent update which allows users to literally conduct their own polls in a tweet. See example:  > Ok tweeps, poll time! Who won the [#DemDebate](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DemDebate?src=hash)? (Mixed up the order, so please no tweets on where your fave is listed) > > — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) [January 18, 2016](https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/688934454593744896) Of course, how can we forget perhaps the most 'controversial' change - that little 'Favourite' star has become a heart icon!   ![twitter-like-heart.png](https://www.thriveability.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Images/content-imgs/twitter-like-heart.png?width=1024&name=twitter-like-heart.png "twitter-like-heart.png") ### #DrummondPuddleWatch A Newcastle agency seen their Periscope feed trending #1 on Twitter earlier in January. Why? A puddle! The British love of weather garnered hundreds of thousands of Periscope views as we all watched people attempt to get around, over or through a puddle on a Newcastle street. Yes, really!  > [#DrummondPuddleWatch](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrummondPuddleWatch?src=hash): Will this week be as exciting as the last? [https://t.co/0KRF9VEo70](https://t.co/0KRF9VEo70) [pic.twitter.com/N3RFktXJRZ](https://t.co/N3RFktXJRZ) > > — Brandwatch React (@BW\_React) [January 12, 2016](https://twitter.com/BW_React/status/687035621249028096) **There is our round-up of all that has gone on with Twitter recently - quite a lot, we think you'd agree! What changes would you like to see on Twitter? Let us know! Follow us and tweet [@ThriveHQ](https://twitter.com/ThriveHQ). ** #### Share this post... 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