To Fleet or Not to Fleet

Tw itter Fleets is a trending feature for writers struggling to make their stories go viral while actively exploring new ways to grow an audience and expand social engagement.

During the last decade, Twitter has become paramount to my global social media experience as a writer and editor in various online platforms and blogs. I did the crossover from Facebook to Twitter when I started losing traction on my post's reach.

From my personal perspective, Twitter still tries to encourage somebody who isn’t a seasoned marketer to go out there and build an audience for free.

I am among those who daily use Twitter to serve the public conversation. In fact, it’s where I go to check what’s happening and talk about it.

I log into Twitter and check all the trending hashtags. Following the latest trends will make a huge difference if you want to keep your content up to date and increase the chances of writing a potentially viral story.

Occasionally, I would send feedback to Twitter support describing how “tweeting felt uncomfortable because it feels so public, so permanent, and like there’s so much pressure to rack up Retweets and Likes.”

I have several Tweets in my drafts that will never see the light of day because they were disregarded or simply felt awkward.

Twitter launched Fleets on Tuesday, 17, and the developers took the floor to explain how Fleets will allow some Tweets to disappear after 24 hours

But, don’t be upset if you just checked your Twitter and you don’t have this feature. They also explained how the feature was primarily tested in Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea. Hence, these are among the users to have out-of-the-box access to Fleets. But rest assured, as many more will come and Fleets should be available worldwide by now.

According to DEVs, Fleets user experience looks promising, as they report how the new feature helped people feel more comfortable joining the conversation:

We saw people with Fleets talk more on Twitter. Those new to Twitter found Fleets to be an easier way to share what’s on their mind. Because they disappear from view after a day, Fleets helped people feel more comfortable sharing personal and casual thoughts, opinions, and feelings. These are early findings from our tests and we’re excited to learn more about how Fleets are used by you.

14 Years of social networking on Twitter

From my writer's point of view, I welcome any feature that allows me to share “personal and casual thoughts, opinions, and feelings.” My writing strives to be up close and personal, and sometimes I have some mixed feelings while promoting it.

I think it was Hemingway who wrote, “there is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

However, after I finish writing a story, the “bleeding” lingers when I cringe before clicking the dreaded publish button. In that unraveling moment, I feel I am also unveiling the deepest cherished bits of my soul, and casting them away to the world, lost foundlings of my multiple inner selves.

Having the chance to Fleet text, temporary reactions to Tweets, photos, or videos opens a new scope of less compromising possibilities. Thus, it will serve our main purpose perfectly as writers and straightforward convey our message to our readers.

Sharing a Tweet in a Fleet sounds cool, as you just need to tap the “Share” icon at the bottom of the Tweet and then tap “Share in Fleet.” Afterward, we can just customize everything to our liking by adding some text or emojis.

How Fleets boosts our stories potential to go viral

The best thing about Fleets is that followers will have the chance to see our Fleets at the top of their home timeline, and interaction will be possible via a Fleet just by tapping it. In case you want to learn all more about

Anyone who can see your full profile can see your Fleets there too. If you have open Direct Messages, anyone can reply to your Fleets. If you want to reply to a Fleet, tap on it to send a Direct Message or emoji to the author, and continue the conversation in your Direct Messages.

How to check Fleets

For followers, Fleets will appear in a new bar across the top of their Home timeline.

Fleets will also be available on our profile by tapping on the profile photo.

I can immediately foresee so much potential in Fleets that I find myself constantly refreshing and logging in and out from Twitter just to be among those lucky few that are already “Fleeting” out there.

Fleets improved interaction gives Twitter a new highlight at its social networking core. I strongly believe, this feature will bring users closer together and develop a new sense of community. Fleets ephemeral solution

Launching Fleets, Twitter offers a solution to a couple of problems hindering my experience, not only as a conventional user but also as a writer and editor.

Conservative tweeting was sometimes an excruciating time-consuming task when looking at the engagement performance in the number of views/reads back at the publication side.

I would carefully build my tweet with features and trending hashtags, then save it as a draft. Afterward, I had to go back to it and publish at peak hours for optimized engagement.

Secondly, I have noticed how Twitter users mainly stick to their home page and often don’t check what’s going on outside their feed.

Fleets will encourage a new sense of community and I believe we will get a lot more interaction going on on our home page if we provide valuable content.

Final Thoughts

Thus, comprehensive engagement at an all-new level can be decisive to make our most relevant stories go viral, and I strongly believe that Fleets has the potential to help Twitter become the ultimate marketing platform on social media for nonpaying users.

Rui Carneiro is a teacher, and life-coach specialized in strategic communication and self-development. Before his experience in Project Management for The European Commission, he was a decorated Army Sergeant.

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