How to Send a Vanishing Fleet to Twitter
After months of beta testing, Twitter’s “Fleets” feature is now rolling out to all iOS and Android users. Despite what Twitter marketing groups call “disappearing” tweets, it is actually just another version of the popular “stories” feature found on most social media platforms (including LinkedIn, for some reason ), with content that only lasts for 24 hours.
Groups can contain tweets (yours or someone else’s), images, GIFs or video clips, and additional text or emoticons. As with any social media app, accounts with new fleets are highlighted in a sliding menu above the regular Twitter feed. Tap your profile picture to view, and tap the edges of the screen to go to the next fleet in your feed.
Sending fleets – which I think will be “fleeting,” a phrase that should never catch on – will also be familiar to anyone who has used fairy tales before:
- In the Twitter app, tap your profile icon
- Click “Share a fleeting thought …”
- Customize your fleet with emoticons, text, and more, then click “Fleet” to post it. The fleet will be displayed on your profile and remain available for 24 hours.
You can also share tweets as vehicle fleets:
- Hit share on the tweet you want, uh, navy.
- Select Share in Fleet.
- Add any reactions or additional text, then hit “Fleet.”
The customization options are still limited, but Twitter says it will add stickers and live streaming options for Fleets in the future. However, users can reply to Fleets – again, just like on Instagram, Facebook, and elsewhere; Fleet responses are sent privately as DM.
A blog post from Twitter said that many users are uncomfortable with tweets “because they seem so public, so persistent, and like there is tremendous pressure to get retweets and likes.” Fleets was designed to help users “feel more comfortable sharing personal and random thoughts, opinions and feelings.”
If that sounds like your experience on the site, you might want to try Fleets instead of torturing yourself with every tweet or shamefully deleting your old posts . Just keep in mind that your followers can still take screenshots of their fleets, and there is currently no way to know if someone has saved or shared your fleets. In other words, these failed attempts will still haunt you, even if they disappear from your profile after 24 hours.