Twitter to bring Instagram-style stories called 'Fleets' to India

Twitter on Tuesday said it will start testing its new feature 'Fleets' in India that will allow its users to post content that disappears after 24 hours.

India is the third market globally after Brazil and Italy where Twitter is rolling out this feature to test.

"Fleets are for people to share their ideas and momentary thoughts. These posts disappear after 24 hours and have no retweets, likes, or public comments," Twitter said in a statement.

ALSO READ

Twitter launches disappearing tweets feature 'Fleets'; #RIPTwitter trends globally

Followers can reply privately via direct messages to continue the conversation. People can also report a Fleet.

Fleets will be available for everyone in India on Twitter for iOS and Android in the coming days in updated app versions. The latest offering from Twitter is similar to 'Stories' on Facebook and Instagram.

"We learned from research that people don't tweet because tweets are public, feel permanent, and display the number of retweets and likes. We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely," Twitter said in a statement. People can tap on their own avatar (profile picture) to start, then add text or media and hit send.

"India is important for Twitter since it is one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally. We are excited to bring the Fleets experiment to India and make it one of the first three countries in the world to experience this new product," Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari said.

He added that the test in India will provide insights around how adding a new mode of conversation changes the way Indians engage on Twitter.

"It will also be interesting to see if it further amplifies the diversity of usage by allowing people to share what they're thinking in a way that is light-touch and light-hearted," he said.

Fleets from the accounts one follows would show up on top of their timeline. Twitter said users can see who has seen their 'Fleet' by looking "underneath" a post.

Twitter said since starting the test of Fleets in Brazil, it has seen people become more comfortable sharing what's on their mind.

"People who don't usually Tweet are starting more conversations and sending both Fleets and Tweets. When people send a Fleet, they often share a number of thoughts rapidly," he said.