Twitter Shuts Instagram Stories-Like Platform 'Fleets' | Copycat No More?

Urian B., Tech Times 02 August 2021, 10:08 pm

Twitter is now shutting down its Instagram Stories-like platform called "Fleets." The company had just announced the "Fleets" platform would be discontinued on August 3, 2021 last July 2021 which is known as basically a "copy" of the popular Instagram Stories. Now, Fleets has been shut down for good.

Twitter Fleets Officially Shut Down

According to the story by 9to5mac, Twitter Fleets was initially announced back in March 2020 as a response to the widely successful Instagram Stories (as well as Snapchat), which allowed its users to take photos and videos and upload them but they will only remain visible for 24 hours. With a very similar approach, the platform has launched it to a group of users located in Brazil and then finally expanded to other countries.

It was previously noted that Twitter is testing out a feature that it calls "Fleets" which would automatically delete tweets after 24 hours! The announcement was initially made by Product Lead of Twitter, Kayvon Beykpour. Fleets got multiple features like the ability to add "Stickers" and more.

What is Twitter Fleets?

As of the moment, there is still no official way for users to delete their old tweets automatically after a certain time. This means that users who want this particular feature would still need to rely on third-party tools.

The announcement of "Fleets" introduced the feature and noted that the company would make it available for yet a "limited amount of users." Twitter pointed out that users can share photos, texts, and of course, videos, that will only be available on the users' profile for just 24 hours.

Twitter Fleets New Features

Beykpour noted that the idea initially came after some users shared that they feel quite intimidated to post certain things. This is due to them not having control over the whole visibility aspect of the content. It was confirmed that the reason behind Fleets closing down is because of the low amount of usage.

During the time when Twitter's "Fleets" was available, the company also added a number of new features to it. This included the possibility of GIFs, the ability to change the text color, and more! Users can react to "Fleets" with emojis and they can even respond to them with a Direct Message via Twitter.

Twitter Fleets Removed

It was noted that for better or worse, Fleets, however, failed to become widely popular. In a blog post, Twitter confirms that the number of people that are using this particular feature remained low. This is reportedly why it has been discontinued.

As of the moment, Fleets interface is still showing up on Twitter's official mobile app. Users, however, will no longer be able to view it or even post any new content. The Verge notes that the feature being widely available on almost every other platform like Instagram, Facebook, and even LinkedIn was "probably part" of the reason that they decided to remove the feature.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.