Twitter tests short-lived tweets in Brazil and calls them ‘fleets’

Since its foundation in 2006, Twitter has only one type of post possible: a tweet. Although it used to only have a 140-character post, the social media now allows a 280-character in a post. Aside from that upgrade, we never saw anything new… until now. The company is currently testing an ephemeral post that they are calling fleet.

Photo from Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) | Twitter

**Twitter tests fleet in Brazil.**

Appearing in a separate timeline above the main timeline, the fleet only has 24 hours before it actually disappears. In other words, Twitter now has Snapchat Stories and the implementation looks nearly identical to Instagram’s version of the feature. Twitter group product manager Mo Aladham relayed the reason behind this update.

“Twitter is for having conversations about what you care about. But, some of you tell us that you’re uncomfortable to tweet because tweets are public, feel permanent, and have public counts (retweets and likes). We want to make it possible for you to have conversations in new ways with less pressure and more control, beyond tweets and direct messages. That’s why starting today in Brazil, we’re testing fleets, a new way to start conversations from your fleeting thoughts.”

**How to create a fleet on Twitter**?

Just in case Twitter will actually push through this, here’s how to create a fleet. First, you’ll have to tap a plus button that appears on the new timeline with ephemeral posts on top. From there, you can type a 280-character of text or add photos, GIFs, or videos. Hit post and your fleet will appear in a lightly ranked side-scrolling row of posts. Aside from your own fleet, you’ll see fleets from other accounts.

Unlike tweets, you cannot like or retweet a fleet. Like stories everywhere, the fleet disappears after 24 hours. However, you can respond with a reaction emoji or a text through direct messages. The company’s head of product, Kayvon Beykpour, revealed the first looks and how he felt interested in exploring the concept.

“I view that as another dimension that is really important for some customers: for some specific set of circumstances where you want to talk to people, but you’re not quite sure you want it to last forever yet. And so I think as a dimension to focus on, as a specific customer problem, absolutely, I’m very interested in exploring how we might give customers more control.”