Twitter will soon stop considering ancillary items, including photos, GIFs and user handles, as characters. This update aims to facilitate longer tweets and flexibility under the social networking site's 140-character limit. The character count will only consider the tweet now. Although Twitter did not specify a date for the change, The Verge reported that the restrictions would by updated on September 19.

While referring to the restriction as a "beautiful constraint", Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said, "This is the most notable change we've made in years," The Verge reported. The Twitter blog entry said usernames, mentioned at the beginning of tweets, would also be omitted from the character count, but did not specify if the updates will occur in phases or simultaneously.

Dorsey said Twitter would "never lose the creativity, brevity, and speed necessitated by the character limit" in its endeavor to explore ways for users to express themselves.