X is looking to expand its publishing options, with a new API update that will enable external apps to facilitate post creation up to 4,000 characters.
Introducing long form Write via X API v2!
With all developers having migrated to our new modern V2 API suite, stay tuned for more new releases and functionality.
This one has been a long time coming —we are excited to add onto this momentum ???? https://t.co/FJyA4KqLbH
— Chris Park (@chrisparkX) August 13, 2024
That means that third-party X post creation and post scheduling tools will now be able to support longer posts, in line with the expanded posting limits announced by X in February last year.
Expanded posts, which are only available to X Premium subscribers, are displayed as regular posts in the X feed, with a “Show more” prompt at the end. Tapping on that will expand the posts to full size, with users able to add much more than the original 280 character limit.
To be clear, there’s a difference between X’s 4k posts, and its even longer X Articles option, which enables X Premium+ users to post Articles up to 100k characters in length. Which is a lot, somewhere in the vicinity of 30k words on average. X Articles are not available for posting via the X API at this time (i.e. not available for creation via third-party apps), but that option is also in development.
The expansion is part of Elon Musk’s “everything app” vision for the app, where people will be able to undertake more functions in-stream. Which is also why he changed the name from “Twitter” to “X”, because in Musk’s view, “Twitter” was too restrictive, given the expanding functionality of the app.
I mean, its overall functionality hasn’t really changed much as yet. But eventually, X is hoping to add payments, and then build on that foundation with more financial tools, which will then extend into shopping, utilities payments, banking, etc.
At the same time, X also wants to host more content directly on X, which is why its reduced the reach and presence of link posts. So now, if you want to maximize your X engagement, you’re best posting direct to X instead, and this new update is another step towards enabling this from more people and brands.
But will that get more people sharing long-form posts? I suspect it might, but I’m not sure that it’ll have a huge impact. X Articles would be a bigger addition, and I can see how some might use this to post whole blog posts and articles to the platform. But I’m not sure that 4,000 character long in-stream posts are a popular option among X users, at least not yet.
But clearly, many X Premium users are posting longer copy in their updates, and this will cater to such usage.
Expect to see the expanded posting functionality come to your favorite X management platform soon.
