Twitter's "Fleets" Feature - Navigating product innovations

In November 2020, Twitter introduced "Fleets", a feature that allowed users to share ephemeral content that would disappear after 24 hours. Drawing parallels with similar features from platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, Twitter hoped to encourage more users to share their thoughts more frequently. However, by July 2021, Twitter decided to discontinue Fleets due to lackluster engagement and user feedback.

Background

As social media platforms evolved, the trend of "stories" or ephemeral content gained traction. Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook had already integrated such features with significant success. Twitter, aiming to engage its user base further and encourage more frequent sharing, decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Launching fleets

When Fleets was launched, Twitter hoped it would help reduce the pressure users might feel about sharing permanent content. Fleets would allow a more casual, less permanent form of expression1.

User feedback and challenges

From the outset, Fleets faced mixed reactions:

• Redundancy: Many users felt that Fleets were redundant, given that several other platforms already offered similar features. The uniqueness or necessity of Fleets on Twitter was questioned.
  
  
• Usability issues: Some users reported that the introduction of Fleets made the app more cluttered and less user-friendly.
  
  
• Engagement: Contrary to expectations, Fleets did not significantly increase user engagement. The feature didn't resonate with the platform's core user base, who primarily viewed Twitter as a platform for real-time updates and discussions.

Ilya Brown, Twitter's Head of Product, admitted, "We hoped Fleets would help more people feel comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter... But in the time since we introduced it, we haven't seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped."5

Decision to discontinue

Taking user feedback and the feature's performance into account, Twitter announced in July 2021 that it would be discontinuing Fleets. The move was seen by many industry analysts as a willingness to pivot when experiments don't yield the desired results.

Conclusion

Twitter's journey with Fleets underscores the challenges of introducing new features in well-established platforms. While innovation is vital for staying relevant, it's equally crucial to gauge user feedback and be willing to make changes accordingly. The swift decision to discontinue Fleets shows the importance of companies being agile, receptive to feedback, and adaptive to the evolving digital landscape.