Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has an indirect message for users: Change is coming to the popular microblogging platform, and it could involve unshackling the current 140-character constraint for tweets.
The possibility of expanding the character count was reported earlier Tuesday by Re/code, which said Twitter is considering a 10,000-character limit, according to sources. That number is already how many characters a user can send in a direct message — part of a change first made over the summer.
Related: Re/code: Twitter Considering 10,000-Character Limit for Tweets
In a picture tweet Tuesday afternoon, Dorsey hinted at the rumor without actually confirming it. Instead, he extolled the virtues of a limited character count as a "beautiful constraint," while suggesting Twitter is ready to relinquish the 140-character cap.
"It inspires creativity and brevity. And a sense of speed. We will never lose that feeling," Dorsey said of the current limit.
Dorsey's tweet itself — a screenshot of a long text — was a sly way to get around the current character count. That picture was worth 1,321 characters.
As part of a lengthy explanation, Dorsey noted that people like to take screenshots of text — presumably more than 140 characters — and then tweet it out.
"Instead, what if that text...was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. That's more utility and power," Dorsey wrote, adding, "We're not going to be shy about building more utility and power into Twitter for people."
Regardless of what Twitter decides, Dorsey wrote that tweetstorms — flurries of tweets on a subject sent out by a user — "won't go away."
A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the Re/code report.
Comcast Corporation, the parent company of NBC News, is also an investor in Re/code.
