Fleets, is Twitter’s response to the story feature available on other social media platforms. The ability to add stories is really on a rise among social media platforms. Initially introduced by Snapchat in 2013, this feature has been adopted by many popular social sites including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and, now, Twitter. After months of testing in selected regions like Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea, on the 17th of November, Twitter globally launched its own version of a story like a feature – “Fleets”.
According to Twitter’s announcement, “Fleets: a new way to join the conversation”
Fleets are very much similar to Instagram stories, where all Twitter users can post fleeting content for the first time. It is a more comfortable and secure platform for users to share their casual, momentary, or transitory thoughts, opinions, and feelings. As tweets are permanent and public and invite public engagements through retweets and likes, many users feel quite insecure and feel pressurized. Unlike tweets, Fleets disappear from view after a day hence, it can’t be liked or retweeted.
User’s Fleets appears at the top of their follower’s home timeline. Users can fleet texts, photos, videos, and reaction to tweets with various text and background features. If the user’s DMs are open, other users can react and respond to fleets by tapping on “Send a Message” or the emoji icon available at the bottom, which will start a DM conversation. However, stickers options similar to Instagram or Snapchat are not yet available in tweeter’s Fleets. Twitter claims that stickers and broadcast feature will be available soon.
How to use Fleets?
- To create a fleet, tap on the “+” icon that appears at the top of your Fleet lists, similar to Instagram stories.
- From there, you can put text up to 280 characters, insert the photo, record videos, or add GIFs, and even customize it with various background and text options.
- Once you press “Fleet”, the fleet will be available at the top of your follower’s home timeline.
- You can even share Tweet in Fleet, by pressing the share icon below the tweet and then press “Share in Fleet.” Then, you can add what you think about it with emojis and some texts.
- You can even see who viewed your fleets including accounts with protected tweets, by clicking into fleets and tapping in “Seen By” available at the bottom of the screen.
- To delete fleet, select “Delete Fleet” and it will be removed.
Fleets are for sharing casual transitory thoughts, Twitter believes it’s a great way to start a conversation and will only be available for 24 hours. They rolled out Fleets with the hope that it will entice more user engagement on this social platform especially those who feel uncomfortable sharing regular tweets. The Fleet will be a lot less pressurizing and more controlled. However, we’ll need to see how the success of this feature will unfold as it was only tested in selected regions and was launched globally. It is hard to say as Instagram stories was a success but Facebook Stories didn’t stand up to that point. In the end, it depends on how often the users will use this feature.
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