Twitter India has introduced the feature ‘Fleets’, conversations or posts that will disappear in 24 hours and have no retweets, likes or public comments. The feature will be available in India in the updated app versions in the coming days.
“We learnt from research that people don’t Tweet because Tweets are public, feel permanent, and display the number of Retweets and Likes. We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely,” says the company in the statement.
India is the third market globally after Brazil and Italy where Twitter is rolling out this feature to test.
“India is important for Twitter since it is one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally. We are excited to bring the Fleets experiment to India and make it one of the first three countries in the world to experience this new product. From the test in India, we’ll learn how adding a new mode of conversation changes the way Indians engage on Twitter. It’ll also be interesting to see if it further amplifies the diversity of usage by allowing people to share what they’re thinking in a way that is light-touch and light-hearted,” says Manish Maheshwari, MD, Twitter India.
Fleets will be on top of one’s timeline. People can see who’s seen their Fleet by looking underneath a post. They can tap on someone’s avatar to see what the person has shared since they last were on Twitter. Alternatively, one can also find an account’s Fleets by looking on their profile page.
“Twitter is where people go to see and talk about what’s happening. We want people to be able to have conversations on Twitter in different ways, with less pressure and more control. That’s why we’re testing a way to share their fleeting thoughts,” says Mo Al Adham, Twitter Group Product Manager.
