Twitter on Wednesday announced it is testing Notes, a way to write longer content without the limit of the 280 characters for tweets. Notes are blog posts on Twitter that can include photos, videos, GIFs and even tweets. These long-form content when published can be read on and off Twitter.
Explaining while the company is working on notes, Twitter’s editorial director Rembert Browne wrote that “threads have evolved the way stories are told on Twitter” but that “there are situations, however, where threads aren’t enough. From the rise of the screenshot announcement Tweet to the newsletter boom, a new reality became clear: people were writing long elsewhere, and then coming to Twitter to share their work and for the conversation surrounding all those words.” Browne explained further, writing that the company got feedback “writers want more control” and “they want us to make it easier to create longer forms of content on Twitter.” Ultimately, the goal with Notes “is to fill in that missing piece and help writers find whatever type of success they desire.”
For now, the company is testing notes among “a small group of writers. The company shared a thread of published notes from these writers showcasing how the feature works. The select writers, for now, are from Canada, Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twitter says it will use feedback provided by the writers over the next two months to improve the first iteration of Notes.
Twitter also confirmed it is adding Revue, the newsletter company it acquired in 2021, to its “Twitter Write” family. While Revue has been integrated into users’ Twitter profiles, it is not clear yet how it will be integrated with Notes.