Well, that was good as it lasted. (I guess?)
Fleets, Twitter’s Instagram Story-like feature, has been removed from the popular social media platform on August 3, 2021. This was formally announced by Twitter Consumer Product Head Ilya Brown in a Twitter Blog post last July 14, 2021, where they mentioned that the reception received by the feature was not what they had hoped.
Fleets was created by Twitter to encourage people who are shy to “join the conversation” on the social media platform and for them to express their fleeting thoughts through a “low-pressure” and “ephemeral” manner. This feature had only been released last November 2020—8 months ago.
In summary or TL;DR, here are the reasons why Twitter decided to drop Fleets:
- Most of the people who used Fleets are the people who are already active on Twitter.
- Most of the Fleets include media like images and videos.
- The space where Fleets was found to be convenient enough to highlight what’s currently happening, which is where people can find Twitter Spaces in the future.
- They recently concluded a full-screen vertical ads format test on Fleets, and will be using their findings on future updates.
Ilya Brown also said that Twitter will be focusing on creating other ways for people to interact on the platform.
While Fleets was a good feature that was just like Instagram and Facebook’s Stories feature, it wasn’t as remarkable as their Spaces feature. In fact, it didn’t receive much attention—until its final hours.
Twitter’s Tweet about the demise of Fleets turned out to be iconic, with the caption “we’re sorry or you’re welcome” becoming a quote on a hoodie they made.
we're removing Fleets on August 3, working on some new stuff
we're sorry or you're welcome
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 14, 2021
Here are some Twitter users’ reactions to Twitter pulling the plug on Fleets.
*everyone sad that fleets are disappearing:* 😭😔😡
*me who has been exclusively using twitter desktop and hasn't seen a single fleet in months:* pic.twitter.com/1i3JbzeDJt
— 🔞BowTieGuy the Writer🔞 (@BtgWriter) August 4, 2021
Twitter removing fleets in exchange for edit button. pic.twitter.com/qC9MkAOEFy
— JAWLS🐢| raeda crumbs 🦉 (@julescfw) August 4, 2021
okay, before I go, I want to share this because I saw it on my main account.
condolence sa fleets hehe you will be missed 🥲🥲 pic.twitter.com/KTB1KmezlB
— cali⁷ — semi ia today bcs on limit (@heejklvs) August 4, 2021
Jack: Twitter fleets is gone
Simps that get into Girl's Dm by fleets: pic.twitter.com/lyjO4AEAHA
— Queen Bee | #BBNaija (@queen_beee_beee) August 4, 2021
how the top of the app feels like after fleets are gone pic.twitter.com/DPLWbkHQ3E
— Bes D. Marx (@besf0rt) August 3, 2021
RIP Fleets. Now, can Twitter bring out the codes for an “Edit Tweet” feature, please?
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