Twitter frees up more room in 140-character limit

Twitter has once again tinkered with tweets to free up more space within the 140-character limit. 

In a blog post on Thursday, the social media site announced that user names will no longer count toward the limit in replies.

Whether addressing one user or several, those names, preceded by an @, will now appear in small text above the tweet rather than in the body of the tweet. 

"It's now easier to follow a conversation, so you can focus on what a discussion is about, and who is having it," project manager Sasank Reddy said in the post. "Also, with all 140 characters for your replies, you have more room to participate in group conversations."

To view or adjust the people included in a conversation, tap or click "Replying to." 

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Twitter has faced criticism in the past about some of the tweaks to its features, but the site's 319 million users will likely welcome this update.

Twitter said it made the change based on user feedback. The update is rolling out to all users, both on Twitter.com and on iOS and Android apps.

Last September, Twitter excluded quoted tweets and media attachments (photos, videos, GIFs, polls) from the character cap.