It's the rumor that has stood the test of time: Twitter is doing away with its 140-character rule. So is it true? Well, the answer is a bit trickier than you'd think.

Just a few months ago, Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said of the 140-character limit, "It's staying. It's a good constraint for us, and it allows for of-the-moment brevity."

While the social media platform isn't completely ditching its character limit, it is modifying it.

Read on to learn how Twitter is changing its 140-character limit, the reasons behind these updates and how to take advantage of these modifications.

The newest changes to Twitter's 140-character limit

There are three, significant changes to Twitter's updated 140-character count restraint — but don't get too excited. These changes won't be rolling out for a few months.

1. When you add media attachments, including photos and videos to your tweet, those will no longer count toward the character limit.

2. Now, when you reply directly to a user using the @username in your tweet, the @username will not be counted in the character limit. Additionally, new tweets that start with the @username will now be seen by all of your followers. Previously, that tweet would only be seen by your followers if they were also following @username.

3. You can expand upon your thoughts. Specifically, you can retweet or quote-tweet yourself and add a whole another 140 characters to that thought.

Why the changes?

Simply put, Twitter is struggling. The social network isn't gaining new followers as quickly as they need to, and users still find the platform chaotic and hard to use. Plus, Twitter's stock hit a record low on Tuesday of $13.72.

With those stats in mind, Dorsey's most recent statements make much more sense: "One of the biggest priorities for this year is to refine our product and make it simpler. We're focused on making Twitter a whole lot easier and faster."

Over the last year alone, Twitter has made more than 10 noteworthy changes to their platform. From the sounds of it, this is just one of the many changes likely to roll out this year.

How to use the updated character count for better marketing

1. More visuals. Tweets with images get up to 18 percent more clicks, 89 percent more favorites and 150 percent more retweets, according to Buffer research. Need I say more? Tell your brand's story visually. Take beautiful brand images and candid video. Share them often, and watch your reach on Twitter grow.

2. More conversations. As of now, Twitter is not the best social platform for conversation. Instead, it's much better for sharing and collecting information. With this latest update, perhaps more conversations will start happening on Twitter. To test this, increase your direct replies on Twitter by 10 percent. See how your users respond to it and how it affects your overall marketing performance on Twitter.