Summary

Twitter has introduced "Fleets," a new feature similar to Instagram Stories, allowing users to share thoughts and media that disappear after 24 hours, emphasizing temporary sharing and potentially impacting the platform's culture of concise and eloquent communication.

Abstract

Twitter's latest feature, "Fleets," mirrors the ephemeral content sharing popularized by Snapchat's Stories. This move by Twitter encourages users to share fleeting thoughts and moments without the permanence of traditional tweets. While Twitter is known for its brevity, with tweets limited to 280 characters, Fleets may shift the platform towards more spontaneous and less polished content. The introduction of Fleets also raises considerations about accessibility, as Twitter has previously faced criticism for neglecting users with disabilities. With Fleets, Twitter aims to provide a more casual and less pressured environment for users to engage in conversation, acknowledging that the permanence and public nature of tweets can deter some users from sharing. However, the reception of Fleets has been mixed, with some users embracing the new feature and others criticizing it or turning it into humor, particularly within the LGBTQ community where the term "Fleet" has multiple connotations.

Opinions

The author suggests that "Fleets" could lead to a decrease in eloquence on Twitter, with users potentially sharing more unfiltered thoughts rather than well-crafted tweets.
There is a concern that Twitter's Fleets might overlook accessibility, especially after the platform's previous missteps with features like voice tweets, which were not considerate of users with hearing loss.
The feature is seen as Twitter's attempt to make the platform more inclusive by providing a space for users who find traditional tweeting too public and permanent.
Some users in the LGBTQ community have found humor in the name "Fleets," associating it with a popular enema brand, leading to jokes and memes.
The long-term success of Fleets is uncertain, as it depends on user adoption and whether the Twitter community will embrace or reject the new feature.

Twitter Fleets Is Like Instagram Stories Without the Filters

To fleet or not to fleet that is the question?

This year, everything seems to be fleeting, even our feelings. Social media platforms want everyone to speak and share their thoughts, even if they are fleeting.

Today, Twitter is the next social media to offer Stories. Twitter calls it, “Fleets”, but it is the same, Fleet is Twitter Stories.

It was Snapchat in 2013 who first added Stories, as a new way to share photos and videos.

We can thank Evan Spiegel, for starting this social media trend. After all, if you look back at social media pre-Stories days, we don’t share our ephemeral thoughts, but with Stories, anything can disappear within 24 hours. Nothing lasts forever, and with it comes, sharing without accountability.

Every other social media platform copied the format, Instagram didn’t even bother to think of another name, and they call it Instagram Stories.

Facebook soon followed, and Youtube has Reels.

Twitter Fleets

Twitter Fleets is tweeting in a hurry

The beauty of Twitter lies in having a limited space to share one’s thoughts. First, a tweet can only have 140 characters, and then it was doubled to 280 characters.

With Twitter threads, you can add tweets to each other, think of it as Twitter in long-form.

To be able to express in 280 characters or less, an idea or thought is a display of eloquence, and with Twitter Fleets, I am afraid, that eloquence will soon be a thing of the past, and we will see more uhms and ahs.

Twitter Fleets is like tweeting on steroids and it could work or it could end up like the other new feature Twitter rolled out this year, the voice tweet which is likely to be heading the Twitter graveyard.

Voice Tweet Was A Thing

Until Twitter forgot that there are 466 million people with hearing loss

medium.com

One thing that Twitter forgot, is accessibility. People with hearing loss account for 5% of the world population, that’s 466 million people worldwide.

Twitter learned their lesson from the debacle when they forgot about accessibility. Social media platforms must remain inclusive, and accessible to all.

Love Is Blind but Let the Blind See Your Facebook Photos

How Facebook alt text will help the visually impaired be more connected during the COVID-19 pandemic

medium.com

With Twitter Fleets, they are reminding people to use or add “alt text”, after they add a photo in the fleet as shown in this screenshot.

When the news was announced today, Twitter Fleets is not canceled but lampooned.

Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation — it’s where you go to see what’s happening and talk about it. 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. That’s why, unfortunately, there are so many 🔥 Tweets left in drafts! To help people feel more comfortable, we’ve been working on a lower pressure way for people to talk about what’s happening. Today, we’re launching Fleets so everyone can easily join the conversation in a new way — with their fleeting thoughts. — Twitter Blog.

As it turned out, Fleet is also an edema brand, which made Twitter Fleets, a butt of a joke and some, in the LGBTQ community are expressing shade as every bottom would know why, Fleet and being a good bottom comes hand in hand.

For now, the jokes, the memes like Twitter Fleets are fleeting, we will soon forget the memes, and we may soon forget about Fleets, it depends if tweeps will embrace it or cancel it.