On Thursday, Twitter‘s product lead Kayvon Beykpour announced via his Twitter account a new capability that’s coming to the platform: the Fleet feature.
The new feature is Twitter’s take on Stories, a feature found on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Fleet allegedly addresses the anxiety that keeps people from talking on Twitter.
Beykpour said:
“Every day, people come to Twitter to see what’s happening. One of the unique things about Twitter is that “what’s happening” is fueled by people sharing their thoughts openly, through Tweets. But sharing your thoughts publicly can be intimidating!
People often tell us that they don’t feel comfortable Tweeting because Tweets can be seen and replied to by anybody, feel permanent and performative (how many Likes & Retweets will this get!?).
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.”
How the Fleet Feature Works
At the moment, the Fleet feature is only available to select users in Brazil.
People with access to the said feature will see a rounded profile icon at the top of their Twitter feed. Clicking it will enable you to share anything in the form of text, images, or videos to your followers.
If your Twitter connections share their Fleets, they would appear alongside your Fleet story at the top of your feed. However, unlike the familiar Stories feature on other platforms, people won’t be able to interact with your Fleets publicly.
Your followers won’t be able to retweet your Fleet or reply to it in public. Instead, they may comment on your Fleet via direct message before it disappears after 24 hours.
Fleet is designed to give users more control over who can respond to their Fleets based on their DM settings.
“Fleets are a way to share fleeting thoughts. Unlike Tweets, Fleets disappear after 24 hours and don’t get Retweets, Likes, or public replies– people can only react to your Fleets with DMs. Instead of showing up in people’s timelines, Fleets are viewed by tapping on your avatar.”
For brands and publishers, the Fleet feature is another excellent opportunity for them to connect with their target audience.
For instance, users can upload up to two minutes long of video content on Fleet. That’s a lot of time for brands and publishers to share video content with people in a non-intrusive way.
It may not seem much at the moment, but there might be more in store for us once Twitter finishes its initial testing of Fleet in Brazil.
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