Twitter will begin testing “Fleets”, letting iOS and Android users make posts that disappear after 24 hours, in Brazil, finally using a Stories-like format
Fleets Ali Salman / Wccftech : Twitter in Works to Introduce Disappearing Tweets Called ‘Fleets’ BBC : RIPTwitter trends as firm tests vanishing tweets Julio Cachila / International Business Times : Fleets: What You Need To Know About Twitter's Version Of Snapchat Stories Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers : Twitter now lets you pin lists as tabs, tests “Fleets”, and starts rolling out threaded replies for Android Matt Southern / Search Engine Journal : Twitter Announces Stories Feature, #RIPTwitter Trends Worldwide Stephanie Mlot / Geek.com : Twitter Tests Stories-Esque Self-Destructing ‘Fleets’ Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today : Twitter Launches Its Own Take on Stories With ‘Fleets’ Rajesh Pandey / iPhone Hacks : Twitter Testing Stories-like Feature Called Fleets James Cook / Telegraph : RIPTwitter trends after Twitter tests vanishing tweets Axios : Twitter tests disappearing tweets in Brazil Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : Twitter Testing Stories-Like Feature Called ‘Fleets’ Tweets: Kayvon Beykpour / @kayvz : 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. https://twitter.com/... Kayvon Beykpour / @kayvz : Every day, people come to Twitter to see what's happening. One of the unique things about Twitter is that “what's happening” is fueled by people sharing their thoughts openly, through Tweets. But sharing your thoughts publicly can be intimidating! 🧵 Kayvon Beykpour / @kayvz : 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. Today, in Brazil only, we're starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It's called Fleets. https://twitter.com/... @twittercomms : yes we know what fleets means. thanks - gay intern Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Y'all there's a new kind of tweet and it's called a FLEET (!!!!!!!) This is real, I asked them many times and they kept saying that it is https://twitter.com/... Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : Twitter Stories. They're here. You can call them Fleets. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Generally I think Twitter stories are a good idea. I throw away a lot of stupid stuff on Instagram that I would rather throw away here. So here's hoping it arrives in the US soon. I expect it will — Twitter employees are testing it internally Bret Taylor / @btaylor : Tweet or fleet 🧵👇🏻 https://twitter.com/... Joshua Rush / @joshuarush : twitter gay intern please delete the whole website https://twitter.com/... Charlie Shrem / @charlieshrem : Cool new @Twitter feature! https://twitter.com/... @thehipsterrebbe : We have that feature already. It's called delete. https://twitter.com/... Alex Howard / @digiphile : Wired: Loose fleets lose seats. Tired: Loose tweets sink fleets. Expired: Loose lips sink ships. https://www.theverge.com/... Art Credit: @lanewinfield http://brianmoore.com/... https://twitter.com/... Shem Horne / @shem_infinite : “Twitter's new Fleets can't receive Likes, Replies or Retweets. And they'll disappear entirely after 24 hours.” Yeah ok then, a feature that defeats the entire purpose of twitter lol. No thanks. https://techcrunch.com/... @nototally : As always, new/additional features on social media platforms should be examined through the prism of harassment and harm first and foremost https://twitter.com/... @codyt : i'm sorry but this is fucking INSANE. there is still no identity accountability on major social networks and anyone is able to speak whatever hateful and harassing comments they feel like sharing https://twitter.com/... @blanketm9 : horrible idea & horrible name https://twitter.com/... Ani Bundel / @anibundel : I can't believe we keep having to say this. All I want in my Twitter timeline are tweets from the accounts I follow, in the order in which they were tweeted. No “Likes.” No “Home.” No “Fleets.” WHY IS THAT SO HARD. https://twitter.com/... Stacy-Marie Ishmael / @s_m_i : A thing about this thread is it doesn't address that one of the things that made likes (for example) hypervisible was Twitter's decision to inject more and more “private” interactions into timelines, and to use Moments to give attention to people with no good way to opt-out. https://twitter.com/... Scott Hanselman / @shanselman : Us: how about editable tweets Twitter: TWeeTs ThAT diSsAPPeaR. We CALl ThEm FleETS https://twitter.com/... Arlene Dickinson / @arlenedickinson : I'd like to speak to the manager, @Twitter. https://twitter.com/... Gin / @showupforthis : Temporary posts that can't be publicly responded to and automatically delete after 24 hours? The target audience for this feature is people who are afraid to tweet because of how people might react to what they're saying? Sure. Sounds great. https://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : why delete your tweet when you can yeet a fleet https://twitter.com/... Mike Monteiro / @monteiro : “What if you managed your platform, @jack?” “What if, instead, you could be as toxic as you wanted to be because all the evidence just disappears!” https://twitter.com/... Chris Lacy / @chrismlacy : Great to see Twitter adding Fleets (aka Stories). Impossible not to also point out this feature is just starting to be tested 3 years after Instagram pulled it from Snapchat. Twitter is not the fast moving, mobile focused company it ought to be. https://techcrunch.com/... Alex Heath / @alexeheath : Twitter starts publicly testing its version of Stories—an idea that has been belabored internally for a long time—less than a week after it was revealed that an activist is looking to oust the CEO over business concerns and stagnant product development https://techcrunch.com/... Osman Faruqi / @oz_f : Can't wait to share intimate and fleeting glimpses of my life with the Nazis and trolls obsessed with me on this platform 😊 https://techcrunch.com/... Matt Monium / @mattycurry : I follow like 3000 people (and I love every one of you) and have a chronological timeline and this will be a mess https://twitter.com/... Eris / @erin_nerung : brazil is the official social network nuclear test site https://twitter.com/... Kayvon Beykpour / @kayvz : We're hoping that Fleets can help people share the fleeting thoughts that they would have been unlikely to Tweet. This is a substantial change to Twitter, so we're excited to learn by testing it (starting with the rollout today in Brazil) and seeing how our customers use it. Darren Rovell / @darrenrovell : Twitter testing an answer to Instagram Stories... https://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : I like the idea of disappearing tweets on Twitter. They're gonna be called fleets https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ryan Sarver / @rsarver : Twitter launching ephemeral Tweets. While it may have been inspired by Stories it's also something Twitter has needed for a long time as many users feel too much permanence in posting. Will be interesting to see how users take to it https://twitter.com/... Twilight Sparkle / @yourcompanionai : if you screencap these are they “fleet pics” https://twitter.com/... Ed Zitron / @edzitron : Shoulda called them yeets https://twitter.com/... Ishan Agarwal / @ishanagarwal24 : I 100% support Fleets, bring them real soon https://techcrunch.com/... @foreverelsanto : Why did they name it that tho Lmfmsnfmfmffmfm https://twitter.com/... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : Introducing Twitter Stories. I mean ‘Fleets’ https://techcrunch.com/... Nick Statt / @nickstatt : Let the fact that Twitter made a version of Stories for ephemeral tweets it's calling “fleets” wash over you and carry you away from this nightmare news cycle. https://www.theverge.com/... Amy Webb / @amywebb : Ephemeral tweets that immediately disappear? There's ~zero chance~ this could possibly make our current misinformation crisis worse. This is a wonderful new feature ahead of the 2020 election!! https://twitter.com/... @jpbrammer : excited to be canceled for my “ephemeral fleets” https://twitter.com/... @ow : Twitter could have made DMs usable, but naturally, instead of doing that, they built.....snapchat stories https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Twitter “Fleets” look exactly like Instagram Stories, with the circles at the top and everything. But Instagram can't complain — they copied the “stories” idea from Snapchat. Copycatting all around! https://twitter.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : Here come the scandals over screenshotted Twitter Stories getting publicly roasted https://twitter.com/... Brandon Wall / @walldo : Twitter is finally testing a temporary “Stories” feature https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Jim Waterson / @jimwaterson : Twitter is adding a stories function, so you have somewhere else to stick all your photos. You won't be able to RT them. They're called..... ..... .... “fleets”. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Fleets arrives months after Twitter told users that a conversation participants compose screen tool would land in 2020, part of a broader effort to make posting feel less like a permanent public statement. The Brazil test is the first real deployment of that thesis in a Stories-shaped format, and it immediately drew backlash — #RIPTwitter trended worldwide as critics argued vanishing tweets weaken accountability.
The move also lands mid-rivalry: Instagram already owns the disappearing-post format, and Meta would later attack Twitter directly with Threads, its standalone competitor. Twitter is responding by importing the rival's format rather than defending its own.
First-order effects
- Brazilian iOS and Android users gain a low-stakes posting surface that bypasses the public timeline, while Twitter's core product identity — the permanent, searchable tweet — starts to blur for the test market.
Second-order effects
- Twitter pairs Fleets with its other friction-reducers, including the reply-limiting test giving authors control over who can respond, pushing the platform toward private-feeling conversation inside a public network — territory Instagram has long held with Stories.
Third-order effects
- If ephemeral posts become standard across networks, the accountability concerns raised at launch — harassment and misinformation that disappears after 24 hours — become a structural governance problem regulators will eventually have to address, since the public record itself becomes optional.
The trend: Social platforms are converging on ephemeral, Stories-style posting, trading the durable public record for lower-friction engagement.