Twitter shuts down Fleets within a year of launch

Twitter said the feature hasn’t seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation.

Twitter Fleets

Twitter Inc said on Wednesday its Fleets feature will not longer be available after August 3, stating its failure to attract more users.

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The microblogging platform introduced the Instagram-like disappearing stories feature in November last year , aimed at people sharing thoughts publicly through tweets to be “intimidating”. “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. Fleets are a way to share fleeting thoughts. Unlike Tweets, Fleets disappear after 24 hours and don’t get Retweets, Likes, or public replies -- people can only react to your Fleets with DMs,” Kayvon Beykpour, Product Lead at Twitter, said in a tweet last year.

However, eight months later, the feature hasn’t seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation, Twitter said in a statement.

“Although we built Fleets to address some of the anxieties that hold people back from tweeting, Fleets are mostly used by people who are already Tweeting to amplify their own Tweets and talk directly with others. We’ll explore more ways to address what holds people back from participating on Twitter,” the company noted.

Twitter said it will soon also test updates like full-screen camera, text formatting options, and GIF stickers to the tweet composer