Character Limits for Every Social Platform
Every social platform has two character limits, and most people only know the first one.
The hard limit is where the platform stops you typing. The truncation point is where your text gets cut off with a "…more" link in the feed. The second is far shorter, and it is the one that determines whether anyone reads you.
The numbers
| Platform | Hard limit | Visible before "more" |
|---|---|---|
| X / Twitter post | 280 | 280 |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | ~125 |
| Instagram bio | 150 | 150 |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | ~140 (mobile) / ~210 (desktop) |
| LinkedIn headline | 220 | ~60 in search results |
| Facebook post | 63,206 | ~250 |
| TikTok caption | 2,200 | ~100 |
| YouTube title | 100 | ~60 |
| YouTube description | 5,000 | ~150 |
| Pinterest description | 500 | ~50 |
| Reddit title | 300 | 300 |
| SMS (single message) | 160 | 160 |
| Meta description (Google) | — | ~155 |
| Page title (Google) | — | ~60 |
Platforms change these without announcement, so treat the truncation figures as close approximations rather than exact contracts. Count your draft in the character counter before posting.
Write for the truncation point, not the cap
Instagram gives you 2,200 characters and shows about 125. That means roughly the first sentence and a half decides whether anyone taps "more". The same logic applies almost everywhere: LinkedIn shows about 140 characters on mobile, TikTok about 100, Facebook about 250.
Practically, this means front-loading. Put the hook, the number, or the question in the first line. Save context, credits, and hashtags for after the fold, where they cost you nothing but are not doing persuasive work either.
The emoji problem
This is the most common reason a post is rejected despite an apparently valid count. Most systems count characters in UTF-16 code units, and emoji are not one unit each:
- A simple emoji like 😀 counts as 2.
- An emoji with a skin-tone modifier counts as 4.
- A family emoji built from several joined figures can count as 11 or more.
- Flags count as 4, being two regional indicator symbols.
Ten emoji in an SMS can therefore cost you 40 characters rather than 10. Worse, adding a single emoji to an SMS switches the encoding from GSM-7 to UCS-2, which drops the per-message limit from 160 characters to 70 — so one emoji can turn a one-part message into a three-part one you pay for. The character counter counts the same way the platforms do, so what it shows is what they will enforce.
Links and mentions
On X, every link counts as a fixed 23 characters regardless of its real length, because all URLs are wrapped in the t.co shortener. Shortening a URL yourself gains you nothing there. Images, GIFs, polls, and quoted posts do not consume characters at all.
On LinkedIn and Facebook, links count in full — so a long URL with tracking parameters genuinely eats into your visible text. Trim UTM parameters, or put the link in the first comment.
Titles and descriptions for search
Two limits worth memorising if you publish anything:
- Page title — about 60 characters. Google actually measures pixel width rather than counting characters, so a title full of capitals or wide letters truncates sooner. Sixty is a safe working figure.
- Meta description — about 155 characters. Not a ranking factor, but it is your advert in the results page, and a sentence cut off mid-word looks careless.
YouTube titles follow the same logic: 100 allowed, roughly 60 shown in search and suggested videos. If your keyword is at character 80, most viewers will never see it.
A quick workflow
- Draft freely without worrying about length.
- Paste into the character counter and check against the truncation figure, not the hard cap.
- Move your strongest line to the front.
- Cut hedging — "I just wanted to share that" is 30 characters saying nothing.
- Add emoji last, then re-check, because they cost more than they look.