Everyone seems to be doing it, Twitter being the latest platform. The company has officially launched its own version of Stories called Fleets. Quite the interesting name, clever at the same time, Fleets is a new tool that enables you to write text, post photos, videos, or add earlier tweets into a little visual info-nugget that disappears after 24 hours… Instagram Stories anyone?
Announced in mid November, the feature officially rolled out globally last Tuesday. Like us you may be wondering why then it’s not available yet, well seeing as that it’s rolling out globally it means that it’s going to take a bit of time to reach certain markets. Twitter did confirm though that it should be on our Twitter for iOS and Android “in the coming days.” It’s a matter of when not if it seems.
Digging deeper into the origins of this project, Twitter apparently started testing Fleets earlier this year, back in March in several countries, including Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea. The resulting feedback was evidently good enough for them to introduce it globally. In an earlier press release the company said “because they disappear from view after a day, Fleets helped people feel more comfortable sharing personal and casual thoughts, opinions, and feelings.”
The idea behind Fleets, according to Twitter group product manager Mo Aladham, is for users to use them to share “casual, everyday thoughts.” When you think about it this is essentially different to the usual deep, structured conversation you would have on the platform. The other main difference this feature specifically has is it doesn’t allow retweets, likes, or replies, but you can reply to them in Direct Messages format.
What do you think of this move? We’ve seen it on LinkedIn and now Twitter. Is it more of the same with lack of innovation or is it a smart move by Twitter? Let us know in the comments section below.
