Are Twitter Fleets A Reminder of our Fleeting World?

Oh boy, social media platforms are sure getting competitive during this lockdown. Or are they just being lazy and can’t think of unique ideas?

So, Twitter rolls out its latest feature in India and it’s called Twitter Fleets. I don’t have to do much work in explaining what this feature does because it’s pretty much available on all platforms.

Instagram Stories.
Facebook Stories.
YouTube Stories.
WhatsApp Stories

= Twitter Fleets.

Yup, that’s pretty much it.

Testing, testing…
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

— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 9, 2020

Why Have Twitter Fleets Been Introduced?

The feature has been put to execution after a lot of feedback received from the users. It seems that people hold themselves back on twitter because they find thoughts that are put out extremely permanent. It’s also a common view that people are not comfortable that anybody can view reply to your tweet.

Is It Really Tackling The Problem?

I think people withhold their opinions on Twitter because of the massive trolling and cyber bullying you could be subjected to. That is the core of the problem which I feel absolutely needs to be addressed. While Fleets could provide as a distraction from it all, I don’t believe that it will be a long term solution.

But the feature is new and people are just getting used to it. It’s too early to say whether it’ll work well or not for the platform but if this experiment had to be rolled out, this is the perfect time.

Guess we’ll have to wait and watch.

What More Is In Store?

In other news, there’s another Twitter update that I found extremely interesting. Twitter prompts the user to read the article before retweeting it. The intention behind this is to promote more informed and mindful conversations on Twitter.

This will not only help with reaching relevant and targeted audiences but also help that particular website to increase web based traction (HUGE advantage to businesses right now!)

This in turn also increases the importance of content – both quality and quantity – in the coming future.

Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.

To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android –– when you Retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 10, 2020