Why is a Tweet restricted to 140 characters?

This week I'd like to share some information about the social media space.

If you are an active user of Twitter, you would have noticed a recent announcement by the company. Twitter will very soon lift the 140 characters limit on your tweet. Usernames, media files, etc will not be counted in the character limit, which will allow Tweeters to make use of more characters to express themselves.
But have you ever wondered why tweets on Twitter are restricted to 140 characters?
Well, Jack Dorsey (Founder of Twitter) said in a 2009 interview to LA Times that when Twitter was launched in March 2006, it mainly worked by sending SMSes from 1 mobile to another, so the company had to ensure that each tweet would fit in 1 SMS to make it easy for messages to be exchanged. Since SMS has a limit of 160 characters, the guys at Twitter stuck to 140 characters, leaving 20 characters for the user name.

But wait a minute, then why does an SMS have a limit of 160 characters?

That's all thanks to German communications researcher Friedhelm Hillebrand, who analysed various forms of message, including his own writing, telex messages and postcards, and figured that the average message would comfortably fit within 160 characters.
He was the chairman of the non-voice services committee for the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) & when they defined their Short Messaging Service (SMS) standard in 1985, Hillebrand recommended that 160 characters was sufficient.

And the rest, as they say, is history :)

Remembering JFK on his 100th Birthday

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. This weekend we’re talking about one of my favourite politicians (yes, there are some likeable ones too), who passed away too young. He was the leader of one of the superpowers of the world and 29 th May 2017 was his 100 th birth anniversary. I’m talking about John Fitzgerald Kennedy , famously known as JFK . JFK was the 35 th President of the USA from January 1961 up until 22 nd November 1963 , when he was assassinated. He was the youngest president of the country and also the youngest to die . JFK’s inaugural address had him reach out to all Americans – “ Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country ” – a line that is till date quoted in essays written by school and college going children. JFK led the US at the height of the Arms Race with Russia and also during the critical Cuban missile crisis . (In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered that Soviet missile bases had ...

12 Must have Apps for Expats In India

So you’re an expat and a guest in our country? Welcome and I hope you have an enjoyable time. But let’s face it, this country of 1.3 billion people isn’t the easiest to navigate and takes some getting used to. Let technology come to your rescue and help you get what you want quickly, easily & cheaply (in most cases). So here’s a list of 12 must have Apps for Expats that makes life easier for them here in India. (I’ve given links to their websites – depending on the phone that you are using you can either download the apps by searching in the App Store or Google Play or be redirected from their websites.) 1) Ola / Uber Need to hail a cab? Conveniently log onto the Uber app or the Ola app. Both apps allow you to pay using credit cards though Ola also lets you pay cash (I’ve been told that Uber also accepts cash in India). Both apps also accept payment via mobile wallets like PayTM & MobiKwik (digital wallets – details below). ...

Why is Pluto a "Dwarf Planet" & other Celestial trivia

The week gone by saw the world celebrate the 25 th birthday of the internet on 23 rd August. On this day in 1991 , the public gained access for the first time to the World Wide Web, which had been designed & deployed by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Switzerland. But today’s GK Nugget is about something else. On 24 th Aug 2006 the International Astronomical Union clarified the definition of a “ planet ”. It said that a celestial body must meet the following criteria in order to qualify as a planet: 1) It must be round. 2) It must orbit the sun. 3) It must have “cleared the neighbourhood" of its orbit. This means that as a planet travels, its gravity sweeps and clears the space around it of other objects. Unfortunately, Pluto (which was discovered on Feb 18 th , 1930 ) doesn’t meet criteria #3 & therefore it was classified as a Dwarf Planet . For the common man, this was a shock, but amongst the circle of astronomers it wasn’t so surprisin...

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