When we talk about characters, our minds open up to so many connotations. It can be about a person’s character, it can be about a role that an actor is playing in a movie or a person in a storybook. This used to be a common scenario in the earlier days. But, today, the whole perspective has changed and there’s another addition – characters in a tweet, Facebook newsfeed, status update on WhatsApp and social media bio. How is that even important?
Characterized by unchartered challenges
Most of us remember the SMS character limits because we lived those 100 SMS/day days. But as time passed through the hourglass of evolution and smartphones came into existence, the character limit spread its wings and we had a lot to say. SMS simply turned into messages. Smileys turned into emojis and stories were not in books, but in a small thumbnail that lasts for 15 seconds only. It wasn’t just about the characters anymore.
When the world of social media got limitless and people around the world began to encounter challenges of multiple kinds, there had to be some limit set. Even Mark Zuckerberg got questioned by the law for reasons known and unknown. One can say, “He got Zucker Punched”, but that’s not the right way to talk address the Social Media Giant! There’s a reason, more than one, actually for putting these limits in place.
Less is More
Ever looked at the banter that McDonald’s and Burger King have at each other on their Twitter handles? Some of them are gold standard! That’s how character limits have to be used. Here are a few reasons why they are necessary:
- It keeps you thinking
- Too long and it gets boring
- Makes every word, count
However, we would be talking about character limits only (and that’s what we have limited ourselves to). Here we go.
Instagram Character Limits
- Bio – 150
- Caption – 2,200
- Username – 30
- Profile Name – 30
- DM – 1,000
- Quiz – 53
- Hashtags – 30
Facebook Character Limits
- Post – 63,206
- Profile Bio – 101
Twitter Limits
- Tweet – 280
- Direct Message – 10,000
- Profile Name – 20
WhatsApp Limits
- Name – 20
- About/Description – 139
- Status Update – 700
- Group Description – 500
- Quick Reply – 50
There are other kinds of limits that we haven’t touched yet which we will be talking about in the upcoming article. In that part, we would be speaking in length about the limits on age, video duration, followers and following, group members, file size and so on.
At 3 Dots Design Pvt. Ltd., keeping a check on all kinds of limits is our forte. Also, not limiting ourselves because of that is our forte too. Be it for digital marketing, branding or advertising, when we use social media to enhance the brand proposition, our work surpasses every limit that’s set as a benchmark. Our objective is always to keep breaking those limits, yet stay within ours. Because that’s what creative strategists do. That’s what we do.