Twitter Fleets is a feature that allows you to share fleeting or transitory thoughts, and after 24 hours, they’ll disappear from view. Share personal in-the-moment thoughts with your followers free of public reactions. Fleet authors can see who views their Fleets, including accounts with protected Tweets, by clicking into their Fleets and tapping on the ‘Seen By’ text at the bottom.
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What you need to know about Twitter Fleets
Before getting started with Twitter Fleets, here are a couple of things you need to be aware of.
- Fleets don’t get retweets, likes, and are not open to public replies
- A Fleet can include text, videos, GIFs, or photos. People can reply to your Fleet by tapping on ‘Send a Message’ or the emoji icon at the bottom of your Fleet
- If you have open DMs, anyone can react to your Fleets. If you have closed DMs, only people you follow can react to your Fleets
- People with access to Fleets can see your Fleets in two ways:
- If they follow you, your Fleets will appear in the new bar across the top of their Home timeline
- Anyone who can see your Tweets can view your Fleets from your profile by tapping on your profile photo
- If you protect your Tweets, your Fleets will also be protected
- To delete a Fleet select ‘Delete Fleet’ and it will remove the post
- Twitter maintains a copy of all sent Fleets and live broadcasts in Fleets for a limited time after they expire or are deleted to be able to enforce against Fleets that are found to violate Twitter rules. If a Fleet or a live broadcast was found in violation, Twitter may extend the time they maintain a copy of it to allow people an opportunity to appeal the violation if they believe it was a mistake.
How to create a Twitter Fleet
To create a new Fleet.
- Start by tapping your profile image
- Tap the ‘Fleet compose’ icon
- Compose your message (it can be comprised of text, photos, a GIF, or video)
- Tap the ‘Fleet’ button to post the Fleet to your profile
How to use Twitter Text Editor to add media to your Fleet
Twitter Text Editor is a standalone, flexible API that provides a full-featured rich text editor. To use the text editor to add media to your Fleet, follow these steps.
- Tap the screen to bring up the keyboard and toolbar
- Tap the ‘Align’ button to format the text center, left, or right
- To change the text to bold, tap the ‘B’ button
- To highlight your text, select the ‘Highlight’ button
- The color wheel will change the text and highlight color, tap the ‘color wheel’ icon to change the text
- To move or resize the text, image, or emoji, use two fingers to pinch to resize or move the media
- Tap the ‘circle’ icon at the bottom left of the screen to change your Fleet’s background color
How to Fleet a Tweet
With just two taps, a Tweet can be uploaded to your Fleets. You have the ability to share a Tweet in your Fleets and add your own comments with ease. Your viewers will also be able to click through on the image to go to the original Tweet.
- Tap the ‘Share’ icon on a Tweet
- Tap ‘Share in a Fleet’
- You can resize or rotate the Tweet and add your own reaction with text or an emoji
- Tap ‘Fleet’ to post the Tweet
How to create a Twitter Fleet
It also works the other way. You can Tweet your Fleet so you don’t lose the content when it disappears after 24 hours. Only the Fleet author can add their Fleet to their own Twitter timeline.
- Tap the ‘down arrow’ icon
- Select ‘Tweet this’
- Add Tweet copy
- Tap ‘Tweet’ to finish Tweeting a Fleet
How to reply to a Fleet
To reply to a Fleet, follow these steps.
- If you are able to Direct Message someone, at the bottom of their Fleet you will see options to ‘Send a Message’ or react via DMs with an emoji
- Tap ‘Send a Message’ to open the text composer and send a DM directly to the author
- Tap the emoji icon to send the DM author an emoji reaction to their Fleet
- Your Fleet reply will appear along with the post to which you were replying via DM
How to report a Fleet
To report a Fleet, follow these steps.
- Tap the ‘down arrow’ icon in the top right corner
- Tap ‘Report Fleet’ to report the Fleet
How to mute a user's Fleets
To mute a user’s Fleets, follow these steps.
- Tap the ‘down arrow’ icon at the top right of one of the account’s Fleets
- Tap ‘Mute @’ to mute Fleets from that account
- To unmute, tap ‘Unmute @’ and the Fleets will reappear in your feed
