Twitter is bringing its version of stories on which users can post momentary casual thoughts. The company said that this feature is known as Twitter fleets, which is still in the testing phase. However, it is already available for users in Brazil and Italy and twitter fleets is now coming to India.
The special thing about twitter fleet is that it doesn’t go to your main timeline. If you’re an active social media user, you probably know the “Snapchat Stories” feature which was later adopted by Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Twitter Fleets are very similar to stories, but they also have additional features such as the way Twitter allows users to share things that are less accessible to the world.
What is Twitter fleet?
With Twitter fleets, users can exchange temporary ideas that disappear within 24 hours. “We created this to help you express yourself in novel ways that feels unofficial and casual than a tweet,” Twitter said in the fleet. Followers can see the fleets at home, at the top of the timeline.
Twitter Fleets can have photos or videos on Twitter with the text above. Anyone who sees the entire profile of another user can find your fleet there. There are no options for retweets, replies, or public likes in the fleets. However, anyone can send a response to the fleet once the DMs open. When you are offline, the people you follow can respond. The properties are a bit similar to WhatsApp and Facebook stories.
How to create Twitter Fleets?
Creating a fleet is as simple as tweeting.
- Go to your profile, you will find a round button having your profile picture along with a plus symbol.
- Click on it and Compose your twitter fleet.
- You can add photos, and videos by clicking on the gallery or camera button.
- By clicking the ‘Aa’ button you can add a text to your fleet. Just like a normal tweet, you have 280 characters to express your thoughts.
- You can also add GIFs in your fleets, but you can not add text over GIFs.
- By adding ‘@’ or ‘#’, you can add trending hashtags to your fleets.
- When done customizing just click on the ‘Fleet’ button present on the left down corner.
That’s it now your fleet will be visible to your followers and will disappear after 24 hours.
How to watch fleets?
If someone you are following has posted a fleet, you can find it on the top of the home. You can also watch fleets by visiting the profile. You’ll notice a circle around their profile just click on it to view the fleet.
Interacting with twitter fleets
Story features on most applications have common properties like horizontal auto-scrolling. But twitter has opted for a unique way of presentation. The Fleets scroll vertically on swiping up and down or tapping, instead of moving horizontally. You also don’t have to hold them to stop them, they don’t have an auto-scroll feature which is excellent to have.
Another impressive feature is that fleets can only be seen by followers and can’t be retweeted. People who follow you can also DM you via your fleet. As these fleets are meant to disappear after 24 hours, users can be informal and casual while fleeting.
Where do fleets lack?
As twitter fleets are still in the experimental phase, there are some drawbacks. There is no text styling feature, which is unacceptable. You can’t add hashtags with photos or videos and you can’t even add text with a GIF.
There are some bugs as well as video length is restricted to 30 seconds iOS and 1:40 seconds on android. In recording video option, you can record for 1 minute only on android while this feature isn’t available on ios.
What did Twitter said about it?
“India is important to Twitter because it is one of our largest and most dynamic target markets in the world. We are pleased that we can transfer fleet experience to India and make it one of the three best countries in the world to try this new product, ‘’ said Manish Maheshwari, CEO of Twitter India in a statement.
“A test in India will show how adding a new thread to a conversation changes the way Indians interact on Twitter. It will also be interesting to see if this will increase the variety of applications, making it easier for people to share their thoughts and happy “- he added.
Conclusion
However twitter fleets feature is not a novel concept but as it is coming with some unique features, the results might be surprising. It’s already being used by a lot of users. You can also share your experience in the comments below.
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To use Twitter Fleet, tap on the Fleet compose icon, then Compose your message, and then tap on the Fleet button to post the Fleet.
To mute a Twitter Fleet, Tap and Hold on the fleet you want to mute, then a pop will rise tap on Mute to mute a Twitter Fleet.
To send a tweet to someone, simply type the person’s username in the format “@username”.