Twitter Rolls Out New Fleets Feature Globally, Users Have React

Source: LIONEL BONAVENTURE / Getty

Back in March, we reported that Twitter was testing its new Stories-like feature called Fleets in Brazil. Today (Nov.17), users launched their apps to see that Fleets has officially gone live globally on iOS and Android smartphones. Fleets are Twitter’s answer to Instagram and Snapchat’s stories and allow users to post “disappearing tweets.” A Fleet could be a full-screen photo, video, plain text, or a reaction to a tweet that will only live for 24 hours. Twitter users will now see many circles similar to the Stories feature on Instagram, where they can view the individuals they follow Fleets.

With the arrival of Fleets, Twitter hopes it will encourage users to share more and post more content being that the Fleets disappear. Speaking on the new feature, Twitter design director Joshua Harris added: “People feel more comfortable joining conversations on Twitter with this ephemeral format because what they’re saying lives just for a moment instead of feeling like it’s around forever.” Fleets are not Twitter’s attempt at copying another social media company’s swag. Twitter also announced another new feature called Spaces, which is basically a carbon copy of Clubhouse, which gained popularity quickly among the masses. Spaces will allow users to join virtual rooms to engage in real-time audio conversations with each other. Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour spoke about Spaces adding:

“It’s not a ‘Here’s an interesting startup doing something interesting. Let’s try and replicate it. It’s very fundamental for us. If we want Twitter to be a place where we can have thoughtful conversations, we need to support a wide spectrum of those conversations.”

Spaces will begin rolling out to select Twitter users at the end of 2020. As you can imagine, Twitter’s users had thoughts about the new Fleets feature as well as Spaces on the horizon. You can peep them all in the gallery below. — Photo: LIONEL BONAVENTURE / Getty