How we arrived at 140 characters

1. How we arrived at 140 characters Kevin Holley, Telefónica Europe Co-inventor of SMS Text Messaging Vice Chair of 3GPP SA @gadget37

2. Index 01How Long is Long Enough? 02Examples from poetry 03A Look at Paging 04SMS Standardisation 05Critical Factors 06SMS Headers 07From SMS to Twitter

3. How long is long enough? • To say something meaningful? To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummationDevoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;For in that sleep of death what dreams may comeWhen we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause: there's the respectThat makes calamity of so long life;For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,The insolence of office and the spurnsThat patient merit of the unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscover'd country from whose bournNo traveller returns, puzzles the willAnd makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action.

4. Shakespeare’s sonnets take about 600-700 characters • But how much can you remember? • “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

5. Japanese Haiku poetry takes about 60-70 characters per verse “As the wind does blow Across the trees, I see the Buds blooming in May” Source: UCLA Asia Institute

6. What about the page boy? • Capacity – about 10 words • Personal – found you and told you the news • Memory – one message at a time

7. Electronic Pagers • “Bleepers” • First Pager System used in Detroit in 1921 • “Pager” term introduced by Motorola in 1959 • By 1994 there were >60 million pagers in use • Messaging Pagers • Popular in the 1980s and 1990s • In the UK, a typical message limit would be 90 characters

8. Meanwhile, GSM was being standardised • Not just for in-car phones • Small, handportable devices were envisaged • Integration of alphanumeric paging was included • Starting February 1985 • But what length should the messages be? • Message pagers provided 90 characters, so how about double – 180 characters? • Would this be achievable technically?

9. What were the critical technical factors? • SMS had to be sent via signalling channels • To avoid high cost, sent alongside other signalling such as location updating • In the GSM Core Network, this meant using CCITT Number 7 (telephony signalling) links • This restricted the complete packet to 272 bytes, including headers • GSM’s feature list kept expanding, and so did the headers • SMS itself had a growing list of features and its own header information expanded

10. SMS Header Usage Message Text CCITT #7 Header SMS Header 272 bytes 96 bytes 176 bytes 36 bytes 140 bytes =160 7-bit characters Includes 24 bytes for 2 phone numbers

11. 1991 calculation Source: GSM4 126/91

12. More Headers • In late 1991, more features were proposed for C7 headers • This would have reduced the SMS length to 116 characters • Resulting in #96conf ! • Luckily, the threat was avoided by version management Source: GSM4 278/91

13. And so… to 140 for Twitter SCCP Header MAP/TCAP Header SMS Header Twitter Header Message Text 140 chars. 20 character header for twitter username

14. At the end, is 140 enough? • Twitter is a very successful internet application • Enough for a short comment and URL • Also a short statement fits easily • “@gadget37 has found the answer and it is (272-96-12-24)*8/7 ... “ • And for the more profound… • Not enough for a Shakespeare Sonnet • But plenty for a few Haiku verses!

15. Telling the whole SMS Standard Story • Fred Hillebrand • Finn Trosby • Kevin Holley • Ian Harris • “Short Message Service • The Creation of Personal Text Messaging”

16. Thank You! Kevin Holley Telefónica Europe plc @gadget37