In March, the social media giant announced the testing of Fleets, an analog of Instagram and Facebook Stories that sit at the top of a user’s profile, in Brazil. By now, the feature is also available in Italy. On Tuesday, the company announced the testing of Fleets in India for iOS and Android users with the latest update.
Testing, testing…
— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 9, 2020
We’re testing a way for you to think out loud without the Likes, Retweets, or replies, called Fleets! Best part? They disappear after 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/r14VWUoF6p
The distinguishing feature of Fleets is that they disappear from the timeline after 24 hours. Besides, Fleets are perfect for “those uncomfortable with public tweets” because you can’t like them, retweet them, or publicly reply to them. An option to embed them on third-party websites will not be available either. Through Fleets, users can share photos, videos, texts, or GIFs. Users can view the Fleets of other users, even if they are not following them.
Namaste! Starting today, Fleets are coming to India. If you’re in India, check it out and let us know what you think! #FleetsFeedback 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/U6QiHynm1U
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) June 9, 2020
It should be noted that Twitter has approximately 55 million active users in India as of April 2020.
This is a phased roll-out, Fleets will be available for everyone in India on Twitter for iOS and Android in the coming days in updated app versions.
— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 9, 2020
“India is important for Twitter since it is one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally. We are excited to bring the Fleets experiment to India and make it one of the first three countries in the world to experience this new product,” said Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director at Twitter India.
The Internet Protocol
How to create a Fleet?
- Tap your profile image on the top left.
- Type something, add an image, video, or GIF.
- Click “Fleet” on the bottom right.
Users can reply to Fleets via DMs or send reactions with emojis.
Twitter is probably the last major social network to discover the Stories format. So far, this feature is used by Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube. There’s no information yet as to whether Twitter will introduce Fleets worldwide.
Apart from testing Fleets in India, the social media platform also announced that it would begin testing a new feature that will encourage users to read articles they want to share before actually sharing them.
It's easy for links/articles to go viral on Twitter. This can be powerful but sometimes dangerous, especially if people haven't read the content they're spreading. This feature (on Android for now) encourages people to read a linked article prior to Retweeting it. https://t.co/qdYZ8w9e27
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) June 10, 2020
Now, the testing is only available for Android users in English. This feature is aimed at combating misinformation on the platform and encouraging meaningful discussions.
