Social Media Character Limits (2025)
Every platform enforces different limits. Go over and your post gets cut, rejected, or loses impact. Here are the exact numbers you need.
| Platform | Character Limit | ~Word Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter/X | 280 | ~50 |
| Twitter/X (Premium) | 25,000 | ~4,500 |
| Instagram Caption | 2,200 | ~400 |
| Facebook Post | 63,206 | ~11,400 |
| LinkedIn Post | 3,000 | ~540 |
| YouTube Title | 100 | ~18 |
| YouTube Description | 5,000 | ~900 |
| TikTok Caption | 2,200 | ~400 |
| Pinterest Description | 500 | ~90 |
| SMS (Standard) | 160 | ~29 |
| Meta Description (SEO) | 155 | ~28 |
Word equivalents assume an average word length of 5.5 characters including spaces. Your actual count depends on vocabulary — use the counter above for exact numbers.
Ideal Content Lengths for SEO
Google does not have a minimum word count, but content length correlates with rankings. Here are the ranges that consistently perform well, based on analyses by Backlinko, HubSpot, and SEMrush.
| Content Type | Ideal Word Count | ~Reading Time |
|---|---|---|
| Blog post (standard) | 1,500–2,500 | 6–11 min |
| Pillar page / ultimate guide | 3,000–5,000+ | 13–21 min |
| Product page | 500–1,000 | 2–4 min |
| Landing page | 500–1,500 | 2–6 min |
| Meta description | 150–160 chars | — |
| Title tag | 50–60 chars | — |
| Email subject line | 30–50 chars | — |
Reading times above use 238 words per minute — the average for online content reading (Brysbaert, 2019). The 7-minute sweet spot identified by Medium’s data team (about 1,600 words) remains a solid target for engagement.
Reading Speed: The Research
The 238 WPM figure comes from Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies covering 18,573 participants. Key findings: silent reading averages 238 WPM for non-fiction, 260 WPM for fiction. Reading from screens is about 10–15% slower than print. College-educated adults average 280–300 WPM. Speed readers claim 600–1,000+ WPM, but comprehension drops sharply above 500 WPM.
Speaking speed averages 150 words per minute in English (ranging 120–180 WPM depending on context). Audiobooks target 150–160 WPM. News anchors speak at 160–180 WPM. TED speakers average 163 WPM. This calculator uses 150 WPM for speaking time estimates.
Characters vs Characters Without Spaces
Total characters count every keystroke — letters, numbers, punctuation, and whitespace. Characters without spaces strip all whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) and count only visible characters. Both matter in different contexts. Twitter counts total characters including spaces. Some academic submission systems count characters without spaces. This counter shows both so you always have the right number.
Average Word Length
English averages 4.7 characters per word. Academic writing trends longer (5.2+), social media shorter (4.0–4.5). Hemingway averaged 4.3, Faulkner 4.8. If your average word length is above 6, you might be writing for experts. Below 4, you are writing for maximum readability. The Flesch-Kincaid readability formula uses average word and sentence length as its core inputs.
The Formulas
Reading Time = Word Count ÷ 238 WPM
Speaking Time = Word Count ÷ 150 WPM
Avg Word Length = Total Characters in Words ÷ Word Count
Words are split on whitespace boundaries. Sentences are detected by terminal punctuation marks (., !, ?). Paragraphs are separated by one or more blank lines. Lines count every newline-separated segment including empty lines.
Need to calculate percentages for your content metrics? Try the percentage calculator.