Twitter announced the launch of fleets yesterday. The feature allows users to share their thoughts on the platform with a 24 hour expiry date.
The idea of fleets is to give users a place to share their thoughts in a less permanent format and to remove the pressure to count retweets and likes.
If you’re wondering why the concept of fleets is giving you déjà vu, it’s because Twitter isn’t the first app to play with the idea of sharing temporary content on your feed. Snapchat has pushed the feature for years, with Instagram and Facebook following soon after.
Here’s everything you need to know about Twitter’s new fleets feature.
What are fleets?
Fleets are temporary tweets that disappear after 24 hours. The feature is essentially Twitter’s answer to Snapchat stories, Instagram stories, Facebook stories… you get the idea.
Related: How to delete your Twitter account
You can “fleet” text, reactions to tweets, photos and videos, and customise them all with different background and text options.
Your followers will be able to find your fleets at the top of their home page, and anyone visiting your profile can see them there too. If you have your direct messages open, anyone will be able to reply to your fleets simply by tapping on them, and only you will see who has viewed your fleets.
To share an existing tweet via fleet, all you need to do is tap the share icon within the tweet and select “Share in a Fleet”. From there, you can resize the tweet and add text and emojis.
You can see the feature in action in the video below:
That thing you didn’t Tweet but wanted to but didn’t but got so close but then were like nah.
We have a place for that now—Fleets!
Rolling out to everyone starting today. pic.twitter.com/auQAHXZMfH
— Twitter (@Twitter) November 17, 2020
Related: How to delete Snapchat
Twitter has previously tested the feature in Brazil, Italy, India and South Korea. According to the app, opting for fleets over traditional tweets gives new users an easier way to share what’s on their mind and to join conversations.
Twitter also found that the temporary aspect of the feature encouraged users to feel more comfortable sharing personal and casual thoughts, opinions and feelings.
Fleets will begin rolling out for Twitter users on iOS and Android over the next few days. While you can start posting fleets with the update, Twitter isn’t done adding to the feature. Stickers and live broadcasting will both be available soon.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
