Here's a word you're apparently just going to have to get used to: "fleets."
That's the name for a new feature Twitter is testing which is essentially the platform's very own version of Snapchat's Stories, allowing users to publicly share posts that disappear after a certain period of time. Similar features have previously been brought to other platforms like Facebook.
Twitter in a blog post on Wednesday announced it's testing "fleets," tweets that disappear in 24 hours, in Brazil, BuzzFeed News reports. A "fleet" can consist of up to 280 characters with photos, GIFs, or videos, per The Verge.
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"Fleets are a way to share fleeting thoughts," Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour said in a thread on Wednesday. "We're hoping that Fleets can help people share the fleeting thoughts that they would have been unlikely to Tweet."
Fleets, Beykpour explained, can't receive any likes, retweets, or replies, and they're accessible by clicking on a user's avatar. And yes, he acknowledged, "there are many similarities with the Stories format." With this feature, Beykpour said Twitter is hoping to "address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter," including people not feeling "comfortable" tweeting because tweets "can be seen and replied to by anybody" and "feel permanent and performative."
There's no word yet on when fleets might permanently roll out for U.S. users, but in the meantime, get those "not quite good enough for full tweets" thoughts ready.
