Our favorite platform Twitter just announced a few upcoming changes that have me pretty excited. It’s no secret that I love Twitter as a platform. When used correctly, it’s one of the best tools to #AmplifyYourBiz. So what are these Twitter changes and what does it mean for you? They all have to do with doing more with the 140-character limit that makes the platform special (at least it does to me.)

• Media attachments: Right now, all media attachments eat into your 140-character limit. With the new Twitter changes, attachments such as photos, GIFs, polls, videos, or even Quote Tweets will no longer be counted as part of the characters within your tweet. This means more room for you to express yourself and opinions without resorting to abbreviations or even grammar atrocities.

• Retweet and Quote Tweet yourself: Do you ever have a tweet that you wish had more exposure later in the day? Or maybe you have a thought that won’t fit into a single tweet . Right now, you don’t have the ability to retweet or quote your own tweets. With the new changes, you can now easily retweet yourself or Quote Tweet a thought to continue a train of thought.

• @ Replies: Sometimes, I get into a really engaging conversation with an awesome person or brand on Twitter, but find it challenging because they have a long username. Or there’s an excellent chain going on with a few people and there’s no way to articulate a thought. This is especially true during Twitter chats. The new Twitter changes will remove the username from the character count when you’re doing an @ mention, making group conversations on Twitter a whole lot easier.

• .@: Have you noticed the period before an @ mention and wondered what it meant? If you weren’t aware of its functionality, it allowed your tweet to broadcast to all of your followers instead of just the mutual followers you have with the person you’re addressing. This comes in handy when talking to brands, or on the flip side, when addressing a customer service issue you’d like to be visible to all of your fans. With the new changes, Twitter is taking away that step of adding the period before the @. This is the change that may have the most impact on our timelines, especially for brands who do a lot of customer and influencer outreach. One way to keep from potentially flooding your timeline with outreach tweets is to do a Reply to a single tweet on that person’s account.

How do you feel about the changes? Tell us on Twitter with #AmplifyYourBiz!