Twitter has announced that it is going to be testing a feature that allows its users to share tweets that will disappear after 24 hours. If you're quite active on Instagram and Snapchat, you might have already understood what we mean.
Twitter is calling these new types of tweets as 'Fleets'. Fleets cannot be retweeted, and they cannot receive public comments, but users can interact with Fleets via direct messaging.
Fleets will not appear on a user's newsfeed, however, interested users can tap on someone's profile icon to view their fleets, similar to Instagram and Snapchat stories.
Kayvon Beykpour, Product Lead at Twitter said in a tweet, "We've been listening to this feedback and working to create new capabilities that address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter. Today, in Brazil only, we're starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It's called Fleets."
Twitter Fleets
Fleets are being currently tested in Brazil and there isn't an official date when the feature will become available for everyone around the world.
Twitter has many big names that are constantly using the platform to share their thoughts, despite this, the social media platform has lagged behind other social media powerhouses like Facebook and Google. Now, Twitter hopes that with these disappearing tweets, users will feel freer to share casual thoughts - and do so quite often.
Story-like features are gaining a lot of popularity recently, allowing users to form smaller-groups and private chats.
Accountability
It is important to note that Twitter works quite differently than Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Twitter is an important platform for politicians and celebrities and Fleets could make it difficult to hold such people accountable for what they say.
Twitter has stated that even though Fleets are ephemeral, they will still be subjected to the social media platform's community guidelines on hate speech and harassment.
A copy of whatever users post via Fleets will be kept with Twitter for a 'limited time' after your post has disappeared. And users have the option to report posts that could be violating the guidelines of Twitter.
