The concept of ephermal content (viewable only for 24 hours and then disappearing) has become the new place for growth. Starting off with Snapchat and most recently followed by LinkedIn Stories, Twitter has caught up with the global rollout of Fleets (that’s what they call it).
Although it was being tested in limited group of countries, looks like the product has been viewed as worthy of public release to their entire userbase. I opened up my app before even updating it, and it showed up on the top.
Same Twitter, just adding Fleets
Currently, users can post their Fleets only from the Home section of the Twitter app. Just like on other platofrms, you’ll see them on the top. Naviagtion is even the same with taps near the screen edges and swipes to move to the next user.
Users have four options on what they can post as a Fleet: text-only, recording videos, taking a photo, or selecting something from the camera roll. While other platforms have put restrictions when it comes to video length, you can post upto 30s of video in a single Fleet.
There’s also a fifth post option; you can add any tweet – yours or another users – as a Fleet which people can visit just by tapping on it. Another good way to promote content.
Although Snapchat and Instagram have added swipe options for links (latter keeps it only to Verified accounts or those with 10K+ followers), that option doesn’t yet exist. They may choose to add it down the road as part of the product roadmap.
Users will see an introductory Fleet by Twitter that plays a short explainer video. That disappears after being viewed.
Make sure to update the app to the latest version on iOS/Android.
