Twitter Fleets: How digital creators and brands can reap its benefits

• Twitter joins the likes of Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook by introducing Fleets, stories that disappear after 24 hours.
• We reached out to digital agencies and influencer marketing experts to understand what it means for the industry, how brands and influencers can weave snacky, visual content on a micro-blogging platform.

On June 8, Twitter India launched ‘Fleets’ for its users, which allows them to share momentary thoughts as it disappears after 24 hours. With this, Twitter has added a visual element onto its platform that will now allow users to express their opinions with videos, GIFs and images. The micro-blogging giant now joins the likes of Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook.

Before launching Fleets, Twitter did some social thinking. It came to realise that people hold back from tweeting because sharing your thoughts publicly can be intimidating and if someone else retweets, it is like writing on the walls that never erases its digital footprint. Therefore, the platform wanted to encourage its audience from sharing their fleeting thoughts which they would otherwise withhold from tweeting due to social pressure.


While Twitterati made fun of the platform for serving an old product with a new packaging and following the bandwagon just because every other platform had it, experts opine this will open up a new way of sharing snacky content.



It brings more opportunities for brands and content creators to engage with their audiences, add more value to their overall content plan and bring in a sense of urgency to make a buying decision.

We reached out to experts to understand what it means for the digital world, what kind of content will work on Fleets, and how brands and content creators can reap benefits from this feature.

Here is what they said:

Heeru Dingra, CEO, WATConsult:

Twitter’s ‘Fleets’ or ‘Fleeting Tweets’ is yet another add-on feature for the platform to generate more conversations and engagement amongst its users. With this update, the micro-blogging giant will now join the league of Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Just like other platforms, this feature would help brands to add a relatability factor in their communication on Twitter, too. Brands will definitely come up with interesting content for this platform as well, utilising this as a new opportunity in their sales funnel. And with the 'Fleets' disappearing in 24 hours, a sense of urgency will be curated amongst users in terms of purchasing the product or grabbing a coupon or more, depending upon the nature of the content. Also, having interactions via direct messaging might add a more personal feel to the conversation.

From the users point of view, I would like to add that this step by Twitter will surely enable more people to join the platform as they would be able to state their opinions without any social pressure. Therefore, the increase in consumer base would be a boon to both, the brands, and digital marketers. Though it's still in a testing phase, it will be exciting to see how it unfolds in disruptive times like these.

Shradha Agarwal Co-founder & COO, Grapes Digital:

Twitter is a platform used for opinions and arguments and that's one of the main reasons we see news channels and opinion leaders in the frontline; unlike Instagram, where we have more aspirational content. Keeping a Digital Marketing perspective in mind, it is a new feature that every brand will absorb in three steps:

1. Announcement - Will be an integral part of their moment marketing strategy
2. Campaign - Creating an engagement campaign only using Twitter fleets
3. Social Strategy - Making this format a part of the overall Twitter strategy.

Sudeep Lahiri, VP - Content and Strategy, One Digital Entertainment:

From an Influencer perspective, this will become a platform to announce their Unfiltered and Behind the Scene thoughts. The former cannot go viral quickly and the latter becomes additional content to add value, like Insta stories.

Firstly, it's great that Twitter is testing this feature in India. It shows the importance that the Indian market has earned for itself in determining product features in the technology and content industry.

Fleets is definitely an interesting feature for a platform that is focussed on expressions and conversations through words, so far.

With regards to the influencer marketing industry, any new social media feature is a new addition to the influencer inventory. So for influencers, it is always a positive game.

Fleets will help them to get more innovative in engaging with their fanbase and we will see interesting content pieces on Twitter in the times to come.

I am eager to see how the world of Twitterati puts Fleets to use to express themselves but for influencers, this feature will strengthen their visibility more.

Neel Gogia, Co-founder, IPLIX Media:

Stories have become common in every video/photo dominant platform and Instagram stories are already a huge business opportunity for influencers and brands. Fleets will provide a new way of connecting with the followers, since tweets are mostly text dominant. It will be more interesting to see how content creators will make use of this as a different form of expression. Fleets could offer a new method of brand interaction, whether to share announcements or handle customer grievances and Fleets could become a new channel for Twitter influencers.