Ever since Snapchat came into our lives, a lot of social media apps have been trying to replicate its success, some more successful than others. Instagram has probably been the most successful with its Stories feature Twitter is actually a perfect fit for this kind of ephemeral content but it took them a while to finally create something similar. Their Stories-like Fleets was introduced last March but was only tested out in Brazil. Now they’re adding another country to its test group: India.
If you need a review of what Fleets is all about, it is like their own take on Snaps/Stories/My Day. People will see Fleets when they tap on your avatar. The tweet will only last for 24 hours and cannot be retweeted, replied to, or even liked. People can respond to it but only you will be able to see it. They can also reply to you through Direct Messages but only if you’re following them or you have open DMs. You are also limited to 280 characters and you can add photos, videos, and GIFs.
They initially made it available in Brazil only and then expanded to Italy and now they’re rolling it out to India too. The Verge says that Twitter mentioned it is one of their largest and fastest-growing markets and so they’re excited to bring Fleets there so their users can experience this new product. They are trying to see how this new mode of conversation will affect or change how people relate to each other on the platform.
There doesn’t seem to be anything new with this version of Fleets that’s rolling out. It makes sense of course since there are now only three countries in the world that have it so they wouldn’t want to bring changes already to it. They will probably be studying how it worked in Brazil, Italy, and India before they make any changes for the more global rollout.
If you’re in India now, you can start sharing your fleeting thoughts on Twitter. No news yet on when they’ll be rolling it out to more countries.
