Twitter is rolling out a new feature today that may be familiar to Instagram and Facebook users. Twitter is introducing Fleets, Tweets that disappear after 24 hours. Teased earlier this year, Fleets are, essentially, Twitter’s version of the popular Stories feature found on Instagram and Facebook, inspired by short-term messaging service Snapchat. Twitter’s blog post explaining Fleets suggest that the feature is for “fleeting” thoughts that users can share without wondering about reach, retweets, and likes. It also means users don’t have to worry about anyone digging up their old Fleets days, months, or years after posting.
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“Fleets are for sharing momentary thoughts – they help start conversations and only stick around for 24 hours,” design director Joshua Harris and product manager Sam Haveson stated in a blog post. “Through our tests in Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea, we learned Fleets helped people feel more comfortable joining the conversation – we saw people with Fleets talk more on Twitter. Those new to Twitter found Fleets to be an easier way to share what’s on their mind. Because they disappear from view after a day, Fleets helped people feel more comfortable sharing personal and casual thoughts, opinions, and feelings. These are early findings from our tests and we’re excited to learn more about how Fleets are used by you.”
Users can deploy text, reactions, photo, or video Fleets with various text and background options. Users can also share other Tweets in a Fleet by hitting the Share, selecting “Share in Fleet,” and adding their thoughts. Fleets currently support emoji, and sticker support is coming soon, as is live broadcasting ability. Fleets will appear at the top of a user’s profile. If a user’s DMs are open, then anyone who sees the Fleet can reply to it.
At the end of the blog post, the Twitter team seems to acknowledge that other social media platforms inspired the new feature. The closing paragraph of the blog reads, “This format may sound familiar to you! We’ve learned that some people feel more comfortable joining conversations on Twitter with this ephemeral format, so what they’re saying lives just for a moment in time. In the coming days, everyone globally will have Fleets on Twitter for iOS and Android. Fleet or @ us with what you think!”
What do you think of Twitter Fleets? Let us know how you feel about them in the comments.
