Twitter’s long-form Notes feature: What it is, how it will work

These users’ Twitter profiles will get a Notes tab, under which you can see all their published Notes, just like you can do so with tweets now.

Notes will come with a rich-text editor which will allow users to bold, italicise and format their text in other ways. The tile of the Note is limited to 100 characters but its body can reach up to 2,500 words. But writers will probably have to stick to Twitter’s rules; this should mean that long-form notes related to violence and harassment would probably get the same treatment as tweets do.

✨ Introducing: Notes ✨

We’re testing a way to write longer on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/SnrS4Q6toX

— Twitter Write (@TwitterWrite) June 22, 2022

These Notes will also have a unique URL which people can use to view the note whether they are logged into Twitter or not. This should mean that they can be widely shared on multiple different platforms and viewed by readers irrespective of whether they have a Twitter account or not. Curiously, Notes will come with a feature that is not yet available for tweets: the ability to edit them after they are published. If users edit their Notes after they are published they will have an “edited” label at the top.

Meta-owned Instagram also seems to be working on a similar feature and funnily, it looks it also has the same name: Notes. On Instagram, the feature will allow users to share Notes with all their followers or their Close Friends list, just like how it is possible with Stories

New! Instagram Notes 📝 is being tested with select users https://t.co/mmITar5A89 pic.twitter.com/IbXcCF7cY6

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 20, 2022

It remains to be seen how popular the Twitter Notes feature will be with writers and content creators since it hinges on them making a choice to write directly on Twitter as opposed to other content platforms like Medium and WordPress where they may have already worked on creating content and developing an audience.