The latest in social media: Twitter updates to know

Get ready to see major Twitter updates before too long, as the social media platform makes changes to grow its user base and increase user engagement.

This week, Twitter officially announced that Jack Dorsey would remain with the company as CEO, following his three-month stint as interim CEO. Dorsey is also CEO of electronic payments company, Square, and is an original founder of Twitter. He was pushed out of the top spot about seven years ago, but now he’s back and ready to make an impact.

Dorsey’s reinstatement in a leadership role at Twitter could lead to some big changes to the platform in the future, as he alluded to with a tweet about Twitter’s 2016 “roadmap.”

Here are a few of the immediate changes that we can expect to see from the social media giant:

1. Tweeting without limits. The 140-character limit for tweets could become a thing of the past. Twitter’s executives are testing a new product which could free up character space by removing links and user handles from the 140-character limit – or they might just increase the overall character count.

While some speculate that increasing the character count could ruin Twitter’s identity, others recognize the desire and push for more engagement on Twitter’s platform. As Christopher Nunneley, CEO at U-Drift.com, Inc., said: “Twitter needs more user engagement. You don’t get an increase in user engagement by keeping the platform level. Instead, you achieve higher engagement levels by giving users wonderful new capabilities.”

2. Saying goodbye to share counts. Sometime this month, Twitter is reportedly going to remove share counts from ‘tweet’ and ‘follow’ buttons, which are widely displayed on online published content and websites (including our blog!). Share counts can still be accessed through the Twitter REST API. This update could largely affect content sharing behavior, as users tend to be more willing to share content that already has a high number of shares.

3. Saying hello to Twitter “blogging.” Also among the rumored changes at Twitter is an on-platform blogging option, such as an integration with Medium, which would be very similar to recent moves made by LinkedIn and Facebook. This new long-form content option could create greater opportunities for journalists and other content creators on the platform.

4. Shopping within the platform. You might be able to conquer your holiday shopping from your Twitter account this year. Twitter is continuing to test and expand access to tweets featuring a “buy” button to sell products, with added integration with Bigcommerce, Demandware and Shopify, on top of the original integration with Stripe.

5. Bringing curated moments to users and non-users. Twitter has begun rolling out Moments (formerly Project Lightning), which is simply designed to present “better discovery for an easier, more delightful experience for users who haven’t been able to find value thus far.” Moments will live as a new tab in the app signified by a lightning icon, and focus on timely, relevant content (not primarily hashtags). For those who are not already Twitter users, moments will appear directly on the Twitter homepage.

Stay tuned to see what happens next with these Twitter updates. What changes do you think would benefit the Twitter user experience?

P.S. From royal babies to Donald Trump, here are the most tweeted about topics from the summer.