Twitter on Tuesday announced the roll out of Fleets feature to its users in India. The Fleets feature enables users to share tweets, photos, GIFs or videos but unlike regular tweets, the Fleets would disappear after 24 hours. The company said that Fleets doesn’t receive Retweets, Likes or public replies, however, Twitter users can interact with Fleets through Direct Messages (DM). In March, Twitter initially rolled out the feature to its users in Brazil while users in Italy received the feature in May. The Fleets have a separate layout and are placed above the main timeline and can be accessed through Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android apps.
Fleets Share Similarities with Instagram Stories
In March, Kayvon Beykpour, product lead at Twitter, said in a tweet that Fleets share similarities with Stories but that there are “few intentional differences.” The Stories were initially introduced by Snapchat and have found its way to several social networking sites including Instagram and Facebook.
“Fleets are a way to share fleeting thoughts,” Beykpour said. “Yes, there are many similarities with the Stories format that will feel familiar to people. There are also a few intentional differences to make the experience more focused on sharing and seeing people’s thoughts.”
Unlike Stories on Instagram where multiple stories from the same user appear horizontally, Fleets follows vertical layout. However, the conversations on Fleets can be restricted as DMs have to be opened by a user for other users to react to Fleets.
“We’re hoping that Fleets can help people share the fleeting thoughts that they would have been unlikely to Tweet,” Beykpour said. “This is a substantial change to Twitter, so we’re excited to learn by testing it (starting with the rollout today in Brazil) and seeing how our customers use it.”
Fleets Can Be Added Through Twitter Apps
Twitter users can add Fleets by tapping on their profile avatar on the Home screen. The users can type up to 280 characters of text or add media including images, GIFs or Video and hit the Fleet icon to publish.
“We want to make it possible for you to have conversations on the platform in new ways, with less pressure and more control, in addition to Tweets and Direct Messages (DMs),” Mo Al Adham, product manager at Twitter said in a blog post in March. “We hope those people who don't usually get comfortable tweeting will use Fleets to talk about the reflections that come into your head.”
