Twitter wants users to do more on its 140-character limited tweets, in the coming months changes will be made that will allow like @names in replies and media attachments (like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls)  no longer “use up” valuable characters.

Here some of the changes:

Replies: When replying to a Tweet, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count. Giving conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group.

• Media attachments: When adding attachments like photos, GIFs, videos, polls, or Quote Tweets, that media will no longer count as characters within your Tweet.
• Retweet and Quote Tweet yourself: Retweet button will be enabled on own Tweets, so they can be easily Retweet or even Quote Tweet.
• Goodbye, .@: These changes will help simplify the rules around Tweets that start with a username. New Tweets that begin with a username will reach all followers. (That means you’ll no longer have to use the ”.@” convention, which people currently use to broadcast Tweets broadly.) If you want a reply to be seen by all your followers, you will be able to Retweet it to signal that you intend for it to be viewed more broadly.

These updates will be available over the coming months. With the announcement will provide developers and partners time to make any needed on products built using Twitter’s API.