[tompetty]

I'd guess a problem with having images or URLs not counting towards a character count is the myriad of different interfaces/apps twitter is used in. A lot are text only and it might become a real headache in terms of imparting the information concisely / in a rhythmic and uniform fashion

[alanh]

Right, let’s not forget SMS. Twitter launched TXT-heavy and is still used mostly that way in certain emerging markets.