Microposts

Microposts are short messages published on microblogging platforms. They emphasize brevity, immediacy, and public exposure. The concept arose with microblogging in the early 2000s and was popularized by Twitter, which established a character limit that constrained posts to 140 characters for many years and later raised to 280. Other platforms implement similar or varying limits or operate on a similar model without strict limits.

Typical features include plain text with optional hyperlinks, hashtags, and user mentions; posts may be public or restricted by privacy settings. They are often displayed in reverse chronological order and may be organized into threads or replies. Multimedia attachments, such as images and videos, are common but not required.

Content of microposts ranges from personal updates and opinions to news links and organizational announcements. They are used for real-time commentary, customer engagement, and information dissemination. The public nature of most microposts raises considerations about privacy, moderation, and platform policies.

Researchers study microposts to analyze language, sentiment, diffusion of information, and social dynamics. Limitations include the character constraint that can reduce nuance, rapidly changing trends, and biases in who uses these platforms or who is exposed to posts due to algorithms.

See also: microblogging, social media, tweet, hashtag.