A chapter in social media we’ve all gotten familiar with are Stories; you select your visual creations, add filters, gifs, stickers, write something up and then share it with your followers to enjoy for no more than 24 hours – thank you Snapchat, thank you Instagram, and thank you Facebook.
Now hear this
As the year 2020 keeps proving to be an extremely special one – to say the least – one particular platform is entering the ephemeral storytelling world with an iteration allowing us to adjust perfectly to how we have been connecting with one another, from a distance – hi Twitter 👋🏻.
What the Fleet?
Remember how Twitter was testing its own version of online Stories back in March? Well, they’ve come up with a way to make these disappearing tweets, called Fleets, intricately more interesting.
Imagine a world where you couldn’t meet up with your friends to hang out and only had your devices at home to connect, create and have a laugh with your buddies, how would you go on? (Too soon? We know.) Here’s how the minds behind Twitter took this challenge on.
Double Trouble
Collaborative Fleets! The unique option added would show the creation of Double-Bubble Fleets, with those involved merged into a single stream. Tapping through on that would seemingly enable followers of the two users to view their collaborative Fleet and react however they feel like. So queue the GIF wars, sarcastic teasings with your bestie, and even social interviews to engage our more serious side.
But, I’m an introvert
This is exactly the aim of creating this new feature; giving a chance for those of us who feel like sharing a fleeting thought with a tighter circle of friends, without having to limit our account at being private and “protecting our tweets.”
“It’s actually quite difficult to have a fireside chat when you have a billion people screaming into your ear. Like, imagine we had tens of thousands of people in the studio with us right now, talking into our ear while we were talking to each other.”
Twitter product manager Kayvon Beykpour explains, specifically referring to the challenges of hosting a Q&A session via tweet; everyone can jump in at any point using the per se event hashtag and add their random thoughts to a stream, making it hard for both participants and users to follow a single thread.
But, I’m an e x t r e m e introvert
And you have the right to be. This Fleet option comes at a time when Twitter is also developing and testing new controls over who can reply to your tweets. With every piece you write, you’ll have the choice of sharing it with either only people you follow, only people you mention, or of course, everyone out there.
When can I fleet?
Obviously, this entire thing is still in the works and still being rolled out in select countries for testing purposes. A better understanding happens when you watch users react to, and use, these features, allowing the creatives at Twitter to curate your options more properly and according to customer needs.
Keep checking our weekly #SocialSpeak blog and stay on the lookout for those Fleets availability in your city.
