LinkedIn allows users to share updates, articles, images, videos and other content through posts on their LinkedIn profile. However, there is a limit on the number of characters you can include in a LinkedIn post.
The character limit for a standard LinkedIn post is 700 characters. This includes spaces and punctuation. If your post exceeds 700 characters, LinkedIn will not allow you to publish it until you shorten the text.
Why Does LinkedIn Have a Character Limit?
There are a few reasons why LinkedIn enforces a character limit for posts:
- Encourages brevity – By limiting posts to 700 characters, LinkedIn pushes users to get their point across in a concise, scannable manner. This improves the experience for readers who are quickly skimming their feeds.
- Avoids long, drawn-out posts – Long blocks of text can be daunting and difficult to digest on social platforms. The character limit helps prevent excessively long posts.
- Consistent experience – The character limit ensures a consistent experience across LinkedIn as users scroll through their feeds. Too much variation in post length would make the feed messy.
- Mobile friendliness – LinkedIn caters to a mobile audience. Long posts don’t translate well to small smartphone screens. The character limit makes posts more consumable on mobile.
Essentially, LinkedIn wants to maintain a professional, tidy feel across the platform. The character limit forces brevity and consistency, providing a better experience for LinkedIn’s audience.
Tips for Staying Within the Character Limit
Crafting an engaging post within 700 characters takes skill. Here are some tips to stay under the limit:
- Know your count – Use the character counter when composing your post to track where you stand.
- Cut the fluff – Stick to the core point you want to get across vs. flowery language.
- Simplify sentences – Break up long, wordy sentences into tighter constructions.
- Use bullet points – Breaking your main points into bullets saves characters.
- Leave out details – Supporting examples and data, while helpful, eat into your character count quickly.
- Shorten links – Use a URL shortener to condense any links you need to include.
- Cut back hashtags – Hashtags take up characters but aren’t essential on LinkedIn.
Following these tips will force you to tighten your writing. You may need to go through several drafts to come up with a concise post that maximizes every character.
Exceptions to the Character Limit
In most cases, you need to stay within 700 characters for your LinkedIn posts. However, there are a few exceptions where you can exceed the limit:
- Articles – When sharing article links, your post can run longer than 700 characters since it will appear differently in the feed.
- Showcase Pages – Company Showcase Pages don’t enforce a character limit, so businesses can create detailed posts.
- Sponsored Content – Paid advertisements through LinkedIn’s Sponsored Content program can exceed 700 characters.
- Direct messages – Private messages between connections aren’t limited.
So if you want to share long-form content, publishing an article or sending a direct message are options. But for posts that appear in the main feed, 700 characters is the limit.
What Happens if You Exceed the Limit?
If you try posting content over 700 characters on LinkedIn, here is what will happen:
- You’ll receive an on-screen notification that your post exceeds the limit.
- You won’t be able to publish or share the post.
- LinkedIn will display the number of characters you’ve used, signaling you to cut it down.
- You can copy and paste the text elsewhere to pare it down before trying to post again.
So LinkedIn won’t abruptly cut off or truncate your post – it simply won’t allow publishing until it meets the 700 character requirement. The platform gives you the flexibility to modify your content accordingly.
Formatting That Doesn’t Count Toward the Limit
When composing a post, you may use various formatting options like bold, italic, hyperlinks, line breaks, etc. These don’t count toward your 700 characters.
Here are some formatting elements that are “free” and don’t affect your character count:
- Paragraph breaks
- Bold and italic text
- Bulleted and numbered lists
- @mentions of other users
- Emoticons like 🙂
- Line breaks
- Hashtags and keywords (although hashtags still take up visible characters in your post)
So feel free to format your posts to enhance readability. The character limit applies solely to the alphabets, numbers and symbols that appear as visible text.
Alternative Options If You Exceed the Limit
What if, even after editing, your content remains longer than 700 characters? You have some options:
- Split it into multiple posts – Break your content into a series of shorter posts that individually fit under the limit.
- Shorten to key points – Cut it down to just the main highlights and insights rather than full detail.
- Use an article – Publish your full content as a LinkedIn article, then share a link to that article in your post.
- Record a video – Summarize your content in a short video under 5 minutes instead.
- Share in a message – Send the full piece in a message to your key connections rather than a post.
With creativity, you can find ways to work within or around the 700 character maximum. The key is keeping your audience in mind – deliver your content in a format they’ll appreciate.
Does the Character Limit Impact Engagement?
Is there an ideal post length for maximum engagement? Not necessarily. Both long and short posts can spur likes, comments, and shares if the content resonates.
However, research indicates engagement starts dropping when posts exceed 80 lines or around 2000 characters. So there may be diminishing returns for extremely long posts.
In most cases, you can deliver your message effectively within LinkedIn’s constraints. Quality trumps quantity when it comes to engagement. An insightful 700-character post will likely outperform a rambling 2000-character one.
Why You Shouldn’t Try to “Game” the Limit
Some social media users look for loopholes and tricks to get around character limits. On LinkedIn, some things people try include:
- Posting 700-character comments on their own post to share more text
- Including excessive line breaks or blank spaces to eat up characters
- Embedding large ASCII art which is technically “invisible” to the counter
- Embedding irrelevant hashtags like #123 or #more to circumvent the counter
While these tactics may seem harmless, they violate the spirit of LinkedIn’s policies and may get your account flagged. Avoid anything deceptive and stay within reasonable content limits per post.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn’s post character limit is 700 including spaces and punctuation.
- This limit promotes brevity, consistency and mobile optimization.
- You can use formatting like bold and bullet points without impacting your count.
- If your post exceeds the limit, LinkedIn won’t allow you to publish it.
- Consider splitting into multiple posts or sharing an article if you exceed the limit.
- Stick to LinkedIn’s posting best practices rather than trying to game the system.
In summary, LinkedIn’s 700-character maximum aims to create optimal user experiences and engagement. While limiting, the constraints force you to be focused and purposeful with your content. Embrace the limit as an opportunity to be concise and impactful each time you post.
