Twitter joins Snapchat and Facebook with its own stories feature — Fleets

Tweet Fleets (Image credit: Twitter)

What you need to know

Twitter is testing its own snapchat-inspired stories feature, dubbed Fleets.
It's a region-based test which is only available in Brazil at the moment.
It also rolled out customizable timelines via swipeable lists to its Android app, months after debuting the feature on iOS.

Snapchat was the first to start with ephemeral stories, Facebook was next to bring it to all its products, and now Twitter has finally joined in on the fun. The firm is testing its own stories-like feature, named Fleets (a possible portmanteau of fleeting tweets), in Brazil. Like Snapchat and Instagram, Stories last for 24 hours only. There aren't any public replies or likes, and stories appear on a scrollable row above your timeline. You can reply to a Fleet, but that sends your message as a DM. It's a semi-public experience at its core.

Mo Aladham, a Twitter group product manager, said (via The Verge):

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.

Fleets is a regionally limited test at the moment, but we can't imagine the firm not rolling it out broadly. For one, the stories format has proven popular on other social media platforms. In addition to that, having the ability to be more ephemeral and less susceptible to being "ratioed" is going to make this a popular Twitter feature for power-users.

We’ve been listening to this feedback and working to create new capabilities that address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter. Today, in Brazil only, we’re starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It’s called Fleets. pic.twitter.com/6MLs8irb0cWe’ve been listening to this feedback and working to create new capabilities that address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter. Today, in Brazil only, we’re starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It’s called Fleets. pic.twitter.com/6MLs8irb0c— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) March 4, 2020 March 4, 2020

Fleets aren't the only thing new on Twitter this week. The firm earlier announced that it would be bringing pinned lists to its Android app, and now it's officially rolling that out.

On Android? Now you can pin Lists to swipe over to them from your Home tab too!

We’re rolling this out starting today. https://t.co/jbLZpi4joGOn Android? Now you can pin Lists to swipe over to them from your Home tab too!

We’re rolling this out starting today. https://t.co/jbLZpi4joG— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 3, 2020 March 3, 2020