Twitter changes the 140 character limit - here's how

As announced today on Twitter's official blog, the social media network is changing how much content you can pack into any Tweet.

While these changes are not yet active, over the next couple of months the following alterations are to be made:

• Replies: When replying to a Tweet, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count. This will make having conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group.

• Media attachments: When you add attachments like photos, GIFs, videos, polls, or Quote Tweets, that media will no longer count as characters within your Tweet. More room for words!

• Retweet and Quote Tweet yourself: We'll be enabling the Retweet button on your own Tweets, so you can easily Retweet or Quote Tweet yourself when you want to share a new reflection or feel like a really good one went unnoticed.

• Goodbye, .@: These changes will help simplify the rules around Tweets that start with a username. New Tweets that begin with a username will reach all your followers. (That means you'll no longer have to use the ”.@” convention, which people currently use to broadcast Tweets broadly.) If you want a reply to be seen by all your followers, you will be able to Retweet it to signal that you intend for it to be viewed more broadly.

So there you have it. The upshot is that basically you're going to be able to say and share more when these changes take effect. By not having your precious 140 characters eaten into by @names and media, you'll be able to spoil the latest episode of Game of Thrones for all your followers in even more detail than ever before.

Now why not check out 10 things you should never do on Twitter