Tweets, meet Fleets.
Twitter unveiled its own version on Tuesday of the ephemeral stories found on other platforms with Fleets, which are tweets that disappear after 24 hours and cannot receive likes, retweets or public replies.
The only way another Twitter user can reply to a Fleet is privately via direct message.
The feature makes it "easier than ever to share your fleeting thoughts with others," the company said in a news release. The hope is that skittish potential users worried about putting tweets out there can feel more comfortable knowing they will disappear in 24 hours and aren't subject to likes and retweets.
The social media company began testing the feature, which was first popularized by Snapchat, in Brazil in March, according to TechCrunch. It also was rolled out in Japan, Twitter's second-largest market after the United States, just last week.
Users could see Fleets even from people they don't follow. Fleets also did not show up in search or in Twitter Moments and could not be embedded on an external website, TechCrunch reported.
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Twitter explained in the news release users can create Fleets on their homepage just like tweets, or they can grab existing tweets and Fleet them, as well as text, photos, GIFs and videos, similar to Instagram's short-lived stories that also disappear after 24 hours.
The Fleets of people you follow will be shown as rounded icons at the top of your Twitter timeline, similar to Instagram stories. The company said it also plans to update Fleets with features like stickers and other tools.
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