Andrew Heinzman
Starting today, Twitter is testing a feature called Fleets on users in Brazil. Like Instagram or Snapchat Stories, Fleets delete themselves after 24 hours, and they aren’t open for comments, likes, or retweets. Oh, and they look just like Instagram Stories.
This new feature was announced by Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s product lead. According to him, Fleets are a casual alternative to Tweets, which can be “uncomfortable” to some users due to their permanent, public nature. Fleets, which last only 24 hours, should provide an outlet for Twitter users’ fleeting thoughts and casual experiences.
If you know how to post an Instagram Story, then you already know how to use Fleets. Users with beta-access to Fleets will have a row of bubbly avatars at the top of their feed. You simply click an avatar to view their Story—I mean Fleets. If you want to post your own Fleet, you simply press the big + bubble on the left side of your Fleet feed.
Again, Fleets are not open to comments, likes, or retweets. But like Stories, Fleets will have “Reply” box for sending private DMs or emojis. Twitter hasn’t clarified if Fleets will include features like Polls, but the service does allow you to post text-based thoughts, images, or GIFs.
Hopefully, Fleets come to the US soon. Then my editor will have somewhere to post his weird and wild thoughts without flooding my Twitter feed.
Source: Twitter
