A significant move from Twitter:

Currently, users have a 140 character limit for both tweets and direct messages, but in July Twitter will be removing that limitation from direct messages. The company has announced the new change, along with an updated API for developers. By announcing it early, and providing documentation for developers, the company hopes that when they launch the feature in July all apps will be ready to support it.

Here comes Twitter’s serious play for a stake in the messaging space – as long as whomever replaces Dick Costolo still sees that as a strategy.