TWITTER LAUNCHES “FLEETS” WITH 24-HOUR LIFE SPAN
Twitter has announced yesterday the launch of “Fleets”, and this new feature is now available worldwide to iPhone and Android users. Fleets are very much the way they sound: fleeting Twitter messages that last for a period of 24 hours.
It’s already a time-tested concept in the social space: First popularized by Snapchat Stories in 2013, the feature has been copied by other platforms including Instagram and Facebook.
Until yesterday and since Twitter’s launch in March 2006, there has been only one type of post possible on the platform: a tweet. However, the new feature is now available globally and appears as posts at the top of the timeline in a row of Stories-like bubbles.
Twitter’s goal with Fleets is to boost the overall time users spend as well as increase engagement on the platform — by making users comfortable with sharing content more spontaneously. Twitter's Design Director Joshua Harris and Product Manager Sam Haveson explained that they created Fleets to ramp down the pressure of "public" and "permanent" Twitter. "Because they disappear from view after a day, Fleets helped people feel more comfortable sharing personal and casual thoughts, opinions, and feelings," they wrote.
Users can share text, respond to others’ tweets, or post videos with the same background color and overlaid text options found on other messaging apps with ephemeral features, with every message disappearing after 24 hours. One can also respond to others’ fleets by tapping on one and sending a direct message or emoji to the creator, which will start a DM conversation similar to how the story reply process works on Instagram. Twitter says it will also be introducing stickers and live broadcasting at some point in the future. Unlike tweets, Twitter Fleets cannot be retweeted or shared, liked or publicly commented on.
Source: theverge.com
