Starting Tuesday night, Twitter in India is testing out Fleets, a new way to have conversations by just putting out the thoughts and disappears if there is no activity.
They disappear after 24 hours and there aren’t any Likes, Retweets or public replies, the company said adding that Fleets will be available for everyone in India on Twitter for iOS and Android in the coming days in updated app versions.
“We learned from research that people don’t tweet because Tweets are public, feel permanent, and display the number of Retweets and Likes. We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely. India is the third market globally after Brazil and Italy where Twitter is rolling out this feature to test,” it said.
New mode
Fleets from the accounts one follows are always right on top of one’s timeline. People can see who’s seen their Fleet by looking underneath a post. They can tap on someone’s avatar to see what the person has shared since they last were on Twitter. Alternatively, one can also find an account’s Fleets by looking on their profile page, the company explained.
“From the test in India, we’ll learn how adding a new mode of conversation changes the way Indians engage on Twitter. It’ll also be interesting to see if it further amplifies the diversity of usage by allowing people to share what they’re thinking in a way that is light-touch and light-hearted,” Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director, Twitter India, said.
Since starting to test Fleets in Brazil, Twitter has seen people become more comfortable sharing what’s on their minds. People who don’t usually tweet are starting more conversations and sending both Fleets and Tweets. When people send a Fleet, they often share a number of thoughts rapidly, the company said.
“Twitter is where people go to see and talk about what’s happening. We want people to be able to have conversations on Twitter in different ways, with less pressure and more control. That’s why we’re testing a way to share their fleeting thoughts,” Mo Al Adham, Twitter Group Product Manager, said.