We’ve all been there: you jot out the perfect tweet, an immaculately crafted spec of expression within a 280-character limit. Your finger is about to crash-land on that big oh-so-tempting blue button, releasing your personal wisdom into the cosmos, and then you… hesitate. Because, once it’s out there, it’s out there.
Well, not anymore.
With Twitter’s new launch of “Fleets,” a feature rolling out globally on Tuesday (it was previously tested in Brazil and Italy, among others), your tweets can now be out there for a mere 24 hours. And not just tweets — Fleets allows you to post a simple blurb of text, a video, or a photo as well. So next time you want to tweet something but also kinda don’t, you can just, well, fleet it.
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“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation,” the company said, “but some of you tell us that Tweeting is uncomfortable because it feels so public, so permanent, and like there’s so much pressure to rack up Retweets and Likes… Today, we’re launching Fleets so everyone can easily join the conversation in a new way – with their fleeting thoughts.”
The name, we assume, comes from the word “fleeting” – meaning “passing swiftly,” according to Merriam-Webster. A rather appropriate name for the purposes of this feature.
The new fleeture—sorry, ahem, *feature—is reminiscent of Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook stories.
And many Twitter users noticed that too (“Snapchat” was trending on Twitter at the time of this writing) along with some other mixed reactions…
Ok but Twitter is on Fleet rn pic.twitter.com/syy2EaR4F6
— Zamar (@ItsJusAnna) November 17, 2020
TWITTER FLEET ITS LIKE INSTAGRAM STORYS FOR TWITTER
— ⛄️milos⛄️ (@WoofWoofieO) November 17, 2020
I don’t get it. Despite the concept being unwanted by the Twitter community in the first place… How many people thought Fleet was the best name they could come up with? Why not go with Stories like Insta and Facebook did? Calling it something different doesn’t make it new. Lol.
— Lyxie 😈 (@Lyxie_) November 17, 2020
Oct 2013: Snapchat launches Stories
Aug 2016: Instagram copies it
Feb 2017: WhatsApp copies it
Mar 2017: Messenger copies it
Nov 2018: YouTube copies it
Sep 2020: LinkedIn copies it
Nov 2020: Twitter copies itWild how closely this matches each company’s reputation for shipping.
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) November 17, 2020
this twitter snapchat and instagram rn pic.twitter.com/ttVhnh3WV4
— gabe (@hornyIoI) November 17, 2020
Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter stories be like: pic.twitter.com/egWmyFQX3S
— 𝓜𝓪𝓽𝓽 🏀✈️ (@mldiffley) November 17, 2020
Me leaving Instagram and Snapchat to post on twitter fleet pic.twitter.com/Msdr07RBm6
— Amina (@animaxali) November 17, 2020
It’s funny to me that Twitter even bothered with an intro video on how to use Fleet. Yeah, we get it. It’s the same as everything fucking else.
— Zach Kornfeld (@korndiddy) November 17, 2020
Twitter this is a fleet , now that your educated remove them please pic.twitter.com/aqnbfE3eFy
— nora she/they (@schlattbutfunny) November 17, 2020
posted a fleet and discovered that 329871 people from high school are lurking on my twitter
— yamini (@showmetheyamz) November 17, 2020
Lmao Twitter really copied Instagram and Snapchat pic.twitter.com/VFN9SubImu
— ♠️dushajcd🇦🇱 (@dushajcd) November 17, 2020