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stories filed under: "160 characters"
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick

Mon, May 4th 2009 4:16pm


Filed Under:
160 characters, sms, text messaging



Random Facts: Why SMS Is Only 160 Characters

from the that's-a-bit-refreshing dept

The LA Times has tracked down the reasoning for why SMS text messaging is limited to 160 characters. Basically, one guy working on the project figured that was plenty after typing a bunch of sentences out and noticing that most were less than 160 characters. There was no serious additional research done on it. It just sorta stuck once implemented. In an age where so many things are user-tested to death, it's kind of nice to know this was almost an accident of history, based on the reasoning of one guy.

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