'Fleets': Twitter to unveil new feature similar to Snapchat, Instagram

Twitter has decided to introduce a major feature named ‘Fleets’ where users will be able to share ephemeral tweets which can include videos, GIFs or photos. Mo Al Adham, product manager at Twitter, said in a blog post that the new feature will be tested in Brazil and the company will learn whether it allows users to share their views more comfortably.

“We hope that those people who are not usually comfortable with Tweeting use Fleets to talk about the reflections that come to their head,” wrote the product manager.

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'Share momentary opinions'

Al Adham said that the new functionality will encourage users to share momentary opinions. Twitter posts in the form of Fleets will disappear after 24 hours and will have no retweets, likes or public comments. ‘Fleets’ resembles ‘stories’ feature of Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. According to industry experts, the new feature is aimed at boosting Twitter’s user growth and advertising revenue in which the company has lagged behind Facebook and Google.

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Followers of Twitter users will be able to see the Fleets at the top of their feed and profile pages. While public comments won’t be available, users can reply to the Fleets by clicking on it and sending a Direct Message (DM) or emoji and continue the conversation in DM. Anyone can react to the Fleets if the DMs are open. Fleets feature is being seen as a part of Twitter’s effort to provide more control to users on engagement. 

The product manager of Fleets said that the feature will be available in Brazil only in the application, whether iOS or Android. Al Adham urged to Tweet using the hashtag #FleetsFeedback to provide feedback on the new feature to help improve its functionality.

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