The maximum length should be 160 characters, not 140. When SMS was developed, research was done to show that 160 characters provided enough space to communicate most short messages [1]. Less characters were shown to be too tight. Unfortunately, Twitter, built on top of SMS, had to clip 20 characters for the username.
Of course, that's just for short text messages. Maybe embedding in hyperlinks, pictures, music, and video doesn't need the same constraints.
Comments
The maximum length should be 160 characters, not 140. When SMS was developed, research was done to show that 160 characters provided enough space to communicate most short messages [1]. Less characters were shown to be too tight. Unfortunately, Twitter, built on top of SMS, had to clip 20 characters for the username.
Of course, that's just for short text messages. Maybe embedding in hyperlinks, pictures, music, and video doesn't need the same constraints.
[1] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/invented-...