BYE FLEETS?

It suddenly occurred to me now that fleets is preparing for its grand departure, that we (I) didn’t use the feature to its full potential.

It’s no telling that Instagram is a dying platform and what even is a Snapchat… TikTok has taken the ball in video content creating and ran with it. Yet Twitter is the only platform that has been able to withstand the constant social media presence upgrades. It remained consistent throughout it all, it’s the platform we all come back to because that’s where all the tea is at.

I’m slow to adapting to new and popular social platforms but Twitter has always been my trusty go to. From Rihanna’s latest paparazzi shots, new movie trailer drops or Kanye’s music leaks. Twitter is the party platform, so introducing fleets may have seemed like it was a “with the times” thing to do. However as a platform known for originally only allowing us to have 40 characters per tweet, it felt out of the blue especially since not giving us the edit feature Kim K fought for.

“Fleets appear above the home timeline, it allows you to share fleeting or transitory thoughts, and after 24 hours, they’ll disappear from view”. In other words a similar feature to snaps, whose whole thing Instagram chose to bite in 2016. Now I don’t know on how many platforms I need to see what you all are up to, but Twitter wasn’t my first bet.

It’s a general consensus amongst regular Instagram users that the platform has continued to undermine it’s original purpose, which was being thee photo sharing social platform (post tumblr). It’s the most rapidly-evolving across all of social media. The platform’s algorithm is heavily consumerist based and recent Instagram statistics, tell us that organic engagement has fallen. Personally it’s killing the app and I’m tired of seeing the same girls do the exact same thing, people don’t even post real life anymore it’s official an influencing space. Instagram’s biggest competition Tik Tok combined with our shortened attention span, presents an alternative version of online sharing. It allows users to create short videos with music, filters, and some other features.

So while each platform had a purpose, Twitter was the open journal. The last platform filled with authenticity, good or bad. From celebrities thoughts behind all the PR stunts. “Black Twitter”, Stan culture and more. It all ignited the “cancel culture” flame back 2017. Fleets added to that genuinity with no filter, no algorithm focused on product placement. It simply put a face to the words.

Though it not being an entirely new concept, the concept of sharing “fleeting thoughts” was low key appropriate for this platform. I think its more original than a filtered face, considering you’re not that person at any point at all…

So R.I.P Fleets see you when you’re new and improved.