If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if it works for one social media company, it might work for another. And another.
On Wednesday, Twitter launched a new feature called “fleets” in South America, according to The Verge.
Like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, fleets are located above the typical timeline, appear as a bubble with the user’s icon, and are only visible for a relatively short period of time (24 hours).
This is the first new feature Twitter has added to its platform that isn’t its distinctive 280-character tweet. You can send a reaction in the form of an emoji or direct message a user based on their fleet, but fleets cannot be liked or retweeted.
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. Instead of showing up in people’s timelines, Fleets are viewed by tapping on your avatar. pic.twitter.com/sWwsExRLcJ
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) March 4, 2020
The feature will first be rolled out in Brazil and comes after Twitter executives said they received messages from users seeking a way to express themselves on the platform without the lingering fear of permanence. In recent years, many Twitter users, celebrities and ordinary people alike, have received strong criticism for tweets they sent out years prior for expressing political opinions.
“People often tell us that they don’t feel comfortable tweeting because tweets can be seen and replied to by anybody, [and they] feel permanent and performative,” Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s head of product, said in a tweet. “But sharing your thoughts publicly can be intimidating!”
Beykpour also said the fleet feature does indeed share similar qualities to Instagram Stories, but “there are also a few intentional differences to make the experience more focused on sharing and seeing people’s thoughts.”
Just like a regular tweet, fleets can be up to 280 character and, include pictures, videos, and GIFs. And like Instagram Stories and Snapchat, to create a fleet, just simply tap on the plus sign icon at the top of the screen where your profile photo is located. The fleets of users you follow, and who follow you back, appear first.
Twitter joins the likes of fellow social media colleagues Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat in chasing what appears to be the most popular feature across the internet today: Impermanence. However, screengrabs still exist.
According to The Verge’s Casey Newton, Twitter is currently testing the feature internally and may be rolling it out to other countries soon.
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to bed thinking I will finally sleep on time, only to somehow end up scrolling Instagram or X again. A few minutes turn into an hour, then another, and before I notice, it is 2 or 3 a.m. The next morning, I am usually annoyed with myself because I could have just slept and felt considerably better for the day ahead.
It is also a surprisingly hard habit to beat. Knowing you should put the phone down does not always help once it is already in your hand. Brick Night is a new gadget built around that exact problem. Instead of relying on you to remember to turn on an app blocker, it automatically restricts selected apps and websites when your phone enters your chosen sleep space during the hours you set.