Twitter selects Canada as test market for new longform writing feature

Twitter Notes
When 280 characters isn’t enough, Twitter offers 2,500 words

Twitter has selected Canada as one of its test markets for a new feature that will allow users to publish longform written content directly on the social media platform.

Canada has been functioning as Twitter’s launchpad for a string of new features, and Notes is one of the latest.

Longform is something that Elon Musk has publicly called for. Called Notes, the platform finally enables writers to publish content beyond the regular 280 characters using a rich-text editor.

In addition to Canada, Twitter is also partnering with the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Ghana to test drive Notes. Only users from the four countries are able to use Notes, however their written content using the feature can be read by Twitter users worldwide.

Canada has been functioning as Twitter’s launchpad for a string of new features, and Notes is one of the latest.

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Twitter established an engineering hub in Canada last year with country managing director, Paul Burns, calling the country a good test and launchpad. He noted specific qualities that make Canada a suitable “first stop on the train to broader global product development.”

“[Canada has] a user base that is incredibly leaned in and active on Twitter, but it also is not at the size and scope that it would essentially introduce significantly more complexity,” he said.

In January, Twitter enabled Canadian users as one of the first to be able to display their NFTs as their profile picture. The NFT display picture feature is only available to Twitter Blue subscribers. Canada was one of the first countries to have Twitter Blue, along with Australia.

Notes also comes with a new team at Twitter called Twitter Write, which will be focused on building tools to improve the Twitter experience for writers.

Currently, a Note title is limited to 100 characters, and the body of a Note is capped at 2,500 words. The Twitter account that published the Note will be able to edit it after it has been published. The Note will include a label afterwards, indicating that it has been edited.

According to Twitter, it plans to gradually expand the number of people with access to Notes. The timing will depend on what the social media site learns during the test, it said.

Featured image courtesy of Twitter.

Charlize Alcaraz

Charlize Alcaraz

Charlize Alcaraz is a staff writer for BetaKit.

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