Twitter is shutting down Fleets
Fleets, we hardly new you!
In case you need a refresher, Fleets were rolled out last year as Twitter’s answer to Stories. Since then, the Fleets “tray” at the top of the Twitter app has probably gotten the most attention because it became the home for live Twitter Spaces.
Now, Twitter has decided to shut it down.
According to Ilya Brown, Twitter’s VP of Consumer Product:
We built Fleets as a lower-pressure, ephemeral way for people to share their fleeting thoughts. We hoped Fleets would help more people feel comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter. But, in the time since we introduced Fleets to everyone, we haven’t seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped.
Because of this, on August 3, Fleets will no longer be available on Twitter.
Here are a few other points to know about Fleets leaving Twitter:
Rather than encouraging lurkers to Tweet more often, Fleets were mostly used by those who had already been actively Tweeting.
Twitter will explore other ways to “quickly share” media including elements such as the full-screen camera, text formatting options, and GIF stickers.
Spaces will continue to appear in the Fleets area at the top of the feed on mobile
Full-screen, vertical ad formats may appear elsewhere on Twitter
Why it matters
We’re guessing Fleets were likely not a big part of many social media strategies, so for now, this may not be have a big impact on social media managers.
That said: This was a fast pivot away from a major new feature on Twitter. The company appears to be rapidly figuring out what works and what doesn’t for its users. While the Story format didn’t take hold on Twitter, it will be exciting to see how this frees the Twitter teams up to focus on their next big ideas.
It will also be interesting to see if Twitter tries any other ephemeral (a.k.a. disappearing) post ideas.
Stay tuned!
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