Fleets: Twitter’s new feature breaks on third day

This is the second time the feature has been faulty in three days

(AFP via Getty Images)

Fleets - Twitter's short form Stories-like feature - appears to have broken on the third day of its launch.

People can choose to post text, reactions to tweets with the tweet attached, photos or videos, as well as the ability to customise them with background and text options.

The feature had already been delayed once as it was crashing the main Twitter app.

“We’re slowing down the rollout of Fleets to fix some performance and stability problems," the social media app later said in a statement yesterday.

“If you don’t have the feature yet, you may not get it for a few more days. We love that so many people are using Fleets and want to ensure we’re providing the best experience for everyone.”

Numerous users on Twitter reported the failing function, which appears to be happening internationally.

Some of you may have seen “Fleets failed to load” or a limited number of fleets at the top of your timeline. We’re working on fixing this and Fleets should be back to normal soon", a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

Fleets - a take on the term fleeting moments - is designed to help users feel more comfortable participating on the platform in a "lower pressure way" without concern for likes and retweets.

However many users, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, have expressed concerns about the feature because of the stress it could cause, as well as being too similar to Stories on Snapchat and Instagram.

Snapchat introduced Stories in October 2013, which last for 24 hours and appear at the top of the app screen.

In 2016 Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, followed suit, launching Instagram Stories. Since then, YouTube, LinkedIn, AirBnb, Facebook, Skype, and many other apps have all introduced their own versions of Stories.

Unlike most Stories features, however, fleets were introduced with a notable lack of security features. Users are not informed when someone screenshots a fleet, as they are when someone takes similar action on other apps, and users are able to tag accounts that have blocked them without notifying the user.

The Independent reached out to Twitter for more information about whether these issues arose in testing. The social media company did not comment on the record.

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