That was fleeting: Twitter fleets feature to disappear from platform

The social media company said the option to post short-lived photos and messages did not catch on

Fleets were designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal tweets. AP

Twitter is disappearing its unpopular disappearing tweets, called fleets.

The company began testing tweets that vanish after 24 hours last March, in Brazil. Fleets were designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal tweets.

"We built fleets as a lower-pressure, ephemeral way for people to share their fleeting thoughts," said Ilya Brown, head of product for brand and video ads, in a blog post on Wednesday.

"We hoped fleets would help more people feel comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter. But, in the time since we introduced fleet to everyone, we haven’t seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with fleets like we hoped. Because of this, on August 3, fleets will no longer be available on Twitter."

Fleets was Twitter taking big chances, Brown wrote.

"We’re evolving what Twitter is, and trying bigger, bolder things to serve the public conversation. A number of these updates, like fleets, are speculative and won’t work out. We’ll be rigorous, evaluate what works, and know when to move on and focus elsewhere."

He said elements from fleets will still be incorporated into the platform.

"Soon, we’ll test updates to the Tweet composer and camera to incorporate features from the fleets composer – like the full-screen camera, text formatting options, and GIF stickers."

The top of users' timelines, where fleets were placed, will soon be occupied by Spaces, the virtual audio rooms Twitter launched in May.

"The top of the timeline continues to be a good spot to highlight what’s happening right now, so you’ll still see Spaces there when someone you follow is hosting or speaking in a live audio conversation," Brown said.

Kayvon Beykpour, head of consumer product at Twitter, stressed that this is part of how the company works.

“(Big) bets are risky and speculative, so by definition a number of them won’t work,” he tweeted. “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.”

Fleets are reminiscent of Instagram and Facebook “stories” and Snapchat’s snaps, which let users post short-lived photos and messages. Such features are increasingly popular with social media users looking for smaller groups and more private chats.

But people use Twitter differently than Facebook, Instagram or messaging apps – it’s more of a public conversation and a way to stay up to date with what’s going on.

Fleets, it turns out, did not make sense.

There was also a matter of the name. Called fleets because they were fleeting, the word is also a brand name for an enema – something many people pointed out on Twitter when the feature was launched.

In a tweet announcing the decision, Twitter wrote: “We’re sorry or you’re welcome," acknowledging mixed user reactions to the feature.

– Additional reporting by AP