Twitter, much like every social media platform there is today, introduced Stories on its platform earlier this year, giving it the title of ‘Fleets.’ And much like Stories on any other platform, it seems like the feature has worked on Twitter as well, as the company has decided to roll it out globally, starting today.
The feature was first spotted in March, and has made its way to multiple areas around the world since then, including India. The idea is simple. You can post ephemeral content on your feed that will stay up on Twitter for 24 hours. It’s the same tried and tested formula that has now become a staple for every social media app on the internet.
These Fleets, just like on other SM platforms, will be up for 24 hours, and will then become obsolete. Users will be able to see a new bar at the top of their Twitter feed, housing circular icons(again, just like Stories from Instagram). At the left most corner of this bar will be your own display picture in a bubble, with a plus sign(if you don’t have any Fleets posted yet). Pressing on this plus sign will allow you to post your own Fleet. This ‘posting’ screen is a little different than the one on other platforms and seems more minimalistic, which Twitter has said is because of the platform being more ‘written oriented’. However, users will still be able to upload pictures, videos, and other media if they want to.
Moreover, users will not be able to ‘like’ or ‘comment’ on a fleet. However, they can still reply to one, which will automatically end up in the message box of the person that has posted said fleet.
As ‘exciting’ as the arrival of Fleets is, it’s not the only thing that Twitter has in store for its users today. The company has also said that it plans to test an audio-based social networking feature on its platform. This means that users will be able to gather for live conversations with another person or a group of people on Twitter, once the feature officially drops on the platform.
Of course, audio moderation is a tough beast to tame, and that’s why the company is only rolling out this feature to a few users as of yet.
