Short life for brevity: Twitter dumping 140-character limit for direct messages

It's time to wax windy. Twitter is dropping its 140-character limit for direct messages sometime in July, according to the company.

Direct messages will apparently be able to run as long as users like, turning the system into more of a typical instant message and group chat service.

The character limit for regular tweets, which is also 140, will remain, reports Mashable.

The Verge calls is a "sensible move." The 140-character limit was "always more of a nuisance in DMs," since they're private and not intended as the quick info bite of a tweet. It will also help companies that run customer service on Twitter.

The move is the latest in several changes the company has made to direct messages over the past year. Twitter introduced group messaging features into the service in January, and also added an option that allows users to opt-in to receive private messages from anyone else on the service. Previously, only users who followed one another could exchange direct messages.

The tinkering is likely do in part to investor jitters over Twitter's stalled growth as it competes with Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Another sign of nerves is that Twitter boss Dick Costolo will quit on 1 July, to be replaced in the interim by chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey.