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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Stephanie Colderick

What are Twitter Fleets and why are they disappearing from the social media platform?

With every social media app having its own lingo and language - from Boomerangs on Instagram to Bitmoji's on Snapchat - it can be hard to keep up.

And what with some features disappearing from the apps before it feels like they were really even a thing, it can leave many of us confused.

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Currently, Twitter Fleets, is trending on Twitter but what are they? Where are they are going and why are they trending?

What are Twitter Fleets?

Twitter Fleet's were Twitter's version of stories, which originally came from Snapchat.

Fleet's/stories are photos, videos, tweets, or just simple text that disappear after 24 hours.

Once the 24 hours is up the Fleets are gone and can't be seen again. There was no option to save them into a highlight like on Instagram - they just disappear.

Fleets were introduced in November last year but many people have either not been using them or don't see the point in them.

You used to be able to view Fleets by tapping the circles at the top of your timeline, like Instagram and Facebook.

Where have they gone?

Twitter has decided to remove Fleets due to the lack of Twitter users actually using the feature.

The app originally introduced Fleets as a space for posting something users were perhaps unsure about tweeting, a quieter space on the internet for those more random thoughts.

Unfortunately, this was not how Fleets were used, with those that did use them merely just promoting their proper timeline tweets, which was not the point of Fleets.

Why are they trending?

Ironically since removing Fleets they have started to trend on Twitter, with users sharing their thoughts on the short-lived feature.

One said: "Fleets, you will be remembered, but now, my dear, sashay...away"

Another said: "Now that fleets are gone, can twitter invest in something that we'd all like? Such as uh... An edit button to fix typos and grammar mistakes on tweets? Thanks."

A third joked: "fleets are gone, I can finally sleep at night again"

And: "Timeline looks beautiful without fleets & spaces."

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