Dave Pell weighs in on Twitter's controversial proposal to double the number of characters allowed in each post. I think he's right.
On a more serious note (well, more serious than the SAD! Tweet, but less serious than thermonuclear war), the reason Twitter thrived is because people were not intimidated by a big blank page that reminded them of the essays they dreaded during youth. Most people hate writing. Hence our societal move toward emojis and animated GIFs as a main mode of communication. 140 characters is so short that it doesn’t feel like writing. It certainly doesn’t feel like you need to be a writer to participate. 280 moves you away from “everyone can do it” and towards, “this is a great place for English majors.” And trust me, as an English major, that’s not a path that leads to an increased stock market valuation.