The ephemeral storytelling format was popularized by Snapchat and it involved sharing texts, photos or videos that disappear within 24 hours. It was later on adopted by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. One popular social network was conspicuously missing and that is Twitter.
Well, that is now in the past. Twitter’s Product Lead, Kayvon Beykpour announced on Twitter that today, they are testing Fleets.
Unlike regular tweets, Fleets disappear after 24 hours and do not get retweets, likes or public replies. People can only react to your Fleets with DMs. You can view these Fleets by tapping on your avatar.
Now that sounds eerily like Stories. “I know what you’re thinking: THIS SOUNDS A LOT LIKE STORIES!,” Kayvon says. He admits that Fleets have many similarities with the Stories format but he insists that there a few intentional differences to “make the experience more focused on sharing and seeing people’s thoughts.”
According to Twitter, Fleets are all about publicity capturing those thoughts that people find intimidating. Their answer with Fleets is to enable people to capture these thoughts in this “Stories format” that disappear and are not subject to feel permanent like regular tweets.
I know what you’re thinking: “THIS SOUNDS A LOT LIKE STORIES!”. Yes, there are many similarities with the Stories format that will feel familiar to people. There are also a few intentional differences to make the experience more focused on sharing and seeing people’s thoughts. pic.twitter.com/OaGYZpChcN
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) March 4, 2020
This has the potential to change how we use Twitter right now. Stories is one of the most important ways that people on social media share their lives online and this will join that trend.
This is being tested today in Brazil on Android and iOS and we have to wait and see when it will be rolled off to other markets.
