Twitter tests 'Notes' for longer text feature

The long-form feature is being tested by a small group of writers and Twitter did not give more details on its wider roll-out.

"There are still a few unresolved matters," Elon Musk said on Twitter buyout.
AP

"There are still a few unresolved matters," Elon Musk said on Twitter buyout.

Twitter Inc has said it was testing a new feature called "Notes" that would allow users to share essay-like write-ups as a link both on and off the social media platform.

The company also said on Wednesday that newsletter firm Revue, which it bought last year, would now be part of Twitter Write along with the "Notes" feature.

The long-form feature is being tested by a small group of writers and Twitter did not give more details on its wider roll-out. 

The company currently has a 280-character limit on tweets, a feature it began testing nearly five years ago.

In April, Twitter surprised users by saying it would in the coming months begin testing a new edit feature, which it called "the most requested feature for many years."

The company is in the middle of a $44 billion buyout by Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, the world's richest person according to Forbes magazine.

READ MORE: Musk: Fake accounts among unresolved matters in Twitter deal

Musk: Twitter deal remains deadlocked

Business magnate Musk said on Tuesday that his $44 billion move to take over Twitter remained held up by "very significant" questions about the number of fake users on the social network.

Musk was reluctant to talk about the deal when asked at the Qatar Economic Forum, saying it was a "sensitive" matter.

"There are still a few unresolved matters," Musk said by video link.

This includes whether "the number of fake and spam users on the system is less than five percent as per their claims, which I think is probably not most people's experience when using Twitter.

Musk said there were also questions about Twitter's debt and whether shareholders will vote for the deal.

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"So I think these are the three things that need to be resolved" to make the transaction happen.

Musk said he wanted to get 80 percent of the North American population and half the world's population onto Twitter.

"That means it must be something that is appealing to people, it obviously can't be a place where they feel uncomfortable or harassed or they will simply not use it."

"I think there is this big difference between freedom of speech and freedom of reach," Musk added.

READ MORE: Twitter to share 'firehose' of data at centre of Musk deal dispute

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