Twitter torpedoes Fleets after 8 months of service

Twitter is axing its "Fleets" feature after low user adoption rate proves the feature can't compete with Instagram and Snapchat.

In November of 2017, Twitter launched "Fleets" — a 24-hour disappearing tweet feature designed to mimic similar features found on Snapchat and Instagram.

Now, after eight months of service, Twitter is canning the feature. According to a blog post by Ilya Brown, Twitter's Head of Product, Brand & Video Ads, Fleets will be taken down from Twitter on August 3.

The news is hardly surprising, as user adoption of Fleets was notably low — and for good reason. Fleets were extremely late to the party. After all, Snapchat launched in 2011, and Instagram introduced its Stories feature in 2016. Introducing the feature nearly a decade after Snapchat meant that it was competing for attention in an already established space.

The company admits that they've been having issues enticing new users to tweet, rather than just passively reading the timeline. Fleets were designed to "address some of the anxieties that hold people back from Tweeting," the post reads. However, "Fleets are mostly used by people who are already Tweeting to amplify their own Tweets and talk directly with others."

In the spot where Fleets reside, users will see highlighted "Spaces," Twitter's active audio chat rooms. In addition, Brown confirms that Twitter will be incorporating some of Fleets features, such as full-screen cameras, text formatting, and GIF stickers to the Tweet composer.

While Fleets may be on their way out, Twitter is allegedly getting close to launching its long-anticipated "Super Follows" feature. The upcoming feature would provide paid access to bonus content supplied by popular personalities on the microblogging service.

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