Twitter says it will retire Fleets, its Stories-like service, on August 3 after low adoption

A fleeting moment for Fleets — Say goodbye to Fleets, the row of fullscreen tweets at the top of the Twitter timeline that expire after 24 hours. The ephemeral tweet format is shutting …

The Verge 2021-07-15 Alex Heath

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter took Fleets from a Brazil test of disappearing posts to a global rollout, but the format did not establish sufficient use. Its retirement reverses a visible attempt to add a Stories-style layer above the main timeline.

The decision also arrives soon after Twitter began testing full-screen Fleets ads, ending a new mobile ad placement before it could become an enduring part of the product.

First-order effects

Twitter will remove the 24-hour Fleets publishing and viewing surface on August 3, affecting users who used it for ephemeral posts.
Advertisers lose the full-screen Fleets inventory Twitter had started to introduce, while Twitter avoids further investment in a low-adoption format.

Second-order effects

Twitter’s product and ad teams can redirect timeline prominence, development effort, and mobile monetization work away from Fleets rather than supporting a separate Stories surface.
The shutdown weakens the case for copying Stories mechanics wholesale on Twitter; feature launches will face a clearer adoption threshold before dedicated ad formats are built around them.

Third-order effects

Twitter’s reversal, alongside YouTube’s later decision to end Stories in favor of other formats, points to a narrower role for Stories outside platforms where the behavior is central to the service.
Social platforms are likely to concentrate product surfaces around formats with demonstrated user demand and monetization rather than maintain parallel ephemeral feeds.

The trend: Stories-style features are being pruned on platforms where ephemeral posting does not earn sustained audience use or support durable ad inventory.

Discussion

Twitter Ilya Brown on x
Goodbye, Fleets — We built Fleets as a lower-pressure, ephemeral way for people to share their fleeting thoughts.
@twitter @twitter on x
we're removing Fleets on August 3, working on some new stuff we're sorry or you're welcome
@twittersupport @twittersupport on x
We had planned for Fleets to help people feel comfortable joining the conversation in a low-pressure way, but it turns out Fleets were mainly used by those Tweeting the most. So now we're ready to explore other ways for people to share on Twitter. (2/4)
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
We're winding down Fleets on August 3. We weren't seeing the impact we'd like to see from a big bet, so we're going to pivot our focus elsewhere 🧵 https://blog.twitter.com/...
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
And just to make a point of our internal philosophy clear: big bets are risky and speculative, so by definition some of them won't work. If we're not having to wind down features every once in a while, then it would be a sign that we're not taking big enough swings.
@twittersupport @twittersupport on x
We learned a lot from Fleets and we're excited to focus on newer and better ways to start conversations on Twitter. We're proud of the work so far and have no plans of slowing down. (3/4)
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
well that didn't last long... Twitter is shutting down Fleets, its Instagram-like stories feature https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Twitter is shutting down Fleets, its Stories clone that was released just last November. Why? Because people weren't using it enough. https://www.theverge.com/...
@nytimestech @nytimestech on x
“Although we built Fleets to address some of the anxieties that hold people back from Tweeting, Fleets are mostly used by people who are already Tweeting...” Ilya Brown, a Twitter vice president of product, wrote in a blog post. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@twittersupport @twittersupport on x
Taking big chances helps us make the best product possible for you, but it doesn't always work out like we planned. It's not always easy to say goodbye to a feature like Fleets, but we're excited to get back to work on what we've got planned next: https://blog.twitter.com/... (4/…
@jack @jack on x
👋🏼 https://twitter.com/...
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
I'm already excited about what we're focusing on next, which we'll share with you all when we're further along. Thanks to all of you who used Fleets, and for sharing your feedback with us along the way.
@h_tejas Tejas Harad on x
Well, that was quick https://blog.twitter.com/...
@jeff_gluck Jeff Gluck on x
Good job everyone on not using this feature. I refused to click on it but it was annoying and now it's going away. Proud of you all. https://twitter.com/...
@howelloneill Patrick Howell O'Neill on x
Something about “Fleets are mostly used by people who are already Tweeting to amplify their own Tweets” so we're gonna go ahead and kill it is very funny to me https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mohanadelshieky Mohanad Elshieky on x
The U.S to Afghanistan https://twitter.com/...
@thean1meman Joey on x
“Oh no.” - Absolutely nobody https://twitter.com/...
@sabena_siddiqi Sabena Siddiqi on x
Rather liked Fleets Just like Facebook stories https://twitter.com/...
@barry Barry Petchesky on x
Good, burn in hell https://www.nytimes.com/...
@tanayj Tanay Jaipuria on x
Impressed by the decisiveness here. Twitter is better off focusing on Spaces. https://twitter.com/...
@bullrun_gravano @bullrun_gravano on x
Because they were stupid. https://twitter.com/...
@leahmcelrath @leahmcelrath on x
It boggles my mind how the people who run Twitter clearly fail to understand Twitter. https://twitter.com/...
@noahpinion Noah Smith on x
Twitter is proof that some companies just get lucky https://twitter.com/...
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
The next hot trend in tech will be NOT having a stories feature. https://twitter.com/...
@piersmorgan Piers Morgan on x
We'd like you to prioritise the removal of racists. https://twitter.com/...
@nbashaw Nathan Baschez on x
I continue to be impressed with Twitter's product execution turnaround! This is exactly the kind of hard call that only healthy teams tend to make. https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Easy to dunk on Twitter for not succeeding at the story format when everyone else has made it work. But! Top of the Twitter timeline is very very valuable real estate. Good call to bail on something that used that space and didn't work. https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger O...K on x
not everything needs a Story feature imo. the thing I liked about Snapchat was ephemerality, not a top bar of bubbles, and hopefully we'll see more big, speculative swings at ephemeral content. https://twitter.com/...
@l3avem3alone Nora on x
We found out people who tweet are the ones using Twitter https://twitter.com/...
@film_girl Christina Warren on x
Love the transparency from @twitter here. I didn't use Fleets after the first day or so, so this decision matches my experience, but I love how willing the company was to both experiment and pivot when it didn't work out as expected. https://blog.twitter.com/...
@faris @faris on x
Fleeting features > 😉 “Big bets are risky and speculative, so by definition a number of them won't work,” Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter's head of product, said in a tweet about the change." https://twitter.com/...
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
We're still very focused on building tools that inspire new forms of conversation so you'll see us taking these learnings into new bets....
@anildash @anildash on x
This is a good sign of a healthy product org at Twitter, IMO. https://t.co/1GV8BZe0mr
@jamesliamcook James Cook on x
Twitter should consider blocking all verified users from tweeting like they did during the crypto hack last July. That was a great hour https://twitter.com/...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Victory! (But seriously, this may be the *most* impressive Twitter move yet. Knowing and acting quickly to move on from something that isn't working despite the sunk cost, etc. Kudos.) https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
The metrics on this tweet just tell the entire story https://twitter.com/...
@ow @ow on x
It's admirable twitter is actually killing fleets off so quickly and publicly to be honest. Rare for a product team to try something so bold and admit it didn't work vs letting it rot. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Twitter has long, long struggled with getting most users to actually tweet and not just consume or eventually stop using the service altogether. Fleets was an attempt to lower the pressure by using a popular format normal people know well (Stories!). Not good that it didn't work.
@tobi Tobi Lutke on x
Also really great job by Twitter to launch high risk features and having the willingness to shut them down. We call this the successful discovery of something that did not work. Most companies are bad at it.
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
I'll be writing more about this today, but the main thing about Fleets is: you should just be able to set your tweets to expire after a certain point. Or even by default https://blog.twitter.com/...

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