Twitter on Wednesday said it would be withdrawing its Fleets feature starting August 3 as there has been no “increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets.” Twitter is disappearing its disappearing tweets, called fleets, after they didn’t catch on.
The company began testing tweets that vanish after 24 hours last March in Brazil. Fleets were designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal tweets. It added that Twitter was still evolving and trying “bigger and bolder things” to serve the public conversation. Fleets feature was introduced in November last year with which users could post full-screen photos, videos, or plain text as “fleeting thoughts” that would last for 24 hours. Meanwhile, following the decision, netizens reacted to the decision with most welcoming the move. Fleets are reminiscent of Instagram and Facebook “stories” and Snapchat’s snaps, which let users post short-lived photos and messages. Such features are increasingly popular with social media users looking for smaller groups and and more private chats. But people use Twitter differently than Facebook, Instagram or messaging apps-it’s more of a public conversation and a way to stay up to date with what’s going on.
