Fleets, Twitter’s version of Stories, rolled out in India

Apart from being famous social media platforms, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and now Twitter have got that “one more thing” in common i.e. Stories. These conversation starter posts are different from the actual posts made on social media accounts and are short-lived – typically self-disappear in 24 hours.

The latest entrant to the club is Twitter and its avatar of stories is called Fleets. Unlike Tweets, Fleets can be viewed by the public but cannot be retweeted or replied to publicly and are not comfortable with Tweeting because of its public visibility. Users, however, can react or respond to Fleets in case you both follow each other or your DMs are open to the public.

In case someone has protected Tweets, then only their followers can view their Fleets. Accessing Fleets is easy though, these are found on top of the home timeline or can be accessed easily by tapping on a user’s profile image.

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The company is still testing the new feature, it is already available in Brazil, Italy and now India, where it was introduced last night.

While at the first look, Fleet sounds just like Stories on any other platform which is accepted by Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour, however, he also stated that there are a few “intentional differences” to make Fleets stand out of the crowd.

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How can I get Fleets on my Twitter account?

Seen as a conversation starter, Fleets is being rolled out to users in a phased manner and cannot be accessed on the Twitter web, however, it will soon be available for both iOS and Android mobile platforms for all the users. 

In case you’ve not got the feature yet, try updating the Twitter application. In case you’re on Android, then becoming a Beta Tester for the Twitter app through Play Store will help you get new features earlier than most. In case you still do not see Fleets on your Twitter app, then you might need to wait till the time Twitter enables it.

How to share a Fleet?

Fleets can be found on the mobile app, right above the feed users will be able to see a round bubble-like icon, similar to Stories. Tapping on these icons will reveal the Fleets shared by the users. Follow the below process to share a Fleet:

• Go to feed home page on the Twitter application on your phone
• Notice thought bubble icons on the top
• Your twitter profile will be the first one with your profile picture and a “+” icon
• A simple Tap on it will take you to the create Fleet menu
• Since Fleet is a text first feature, you’ll notice a huge text box. Simply enter whatever you may want to share and tap on “Fleet” at the bottom right
• In case you want to add an image, you can use the camera icon at the bottom left to capture fresh image/videos.
• Once captured, you can either use the image/video or retake it in case you want
• Tap Next when done
• You can add text the image by tapping on the font icon on the top right or simply tap on “Fleet” at the bottom right to post the content.
• You can also use images/videos/Gifs from your gallery and share them as Fleets
• You can also trim the videos while sharing them, right from the Fleet menu

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