Twitter expands its Stories-like Fleets to Europe

Update July 30, 07:30AM UTC: It seems we were wrong about the Netherlands. We confirmed with the user that he was using a VPN with an Italian IP when first appeared.

A Twitter spokesperson further told us that, indeed, Fleets aren’t available in the Netherlands, but they’re currently testing the feature in Italy. The company also noted it’s running trials in Brazil, India, and South Korea.

It seems Twitter is expanding its trial with ephemeral content — so don’t be surprised if you start seeing Stories on the micro-blogging platform in the near future.

Some users in the Netherlands are reporting they now have the ability to post content which will automatically disappear after 24 hours. The feature, which Twitter has dubbed “Fleets,” practically resembles Instagram’s (or Facebook’s or WhatsApp’s) version of Stories.

Lol, ik kan Stories plaatsen op Twitter als een soort 'test' – ze heten Fleets en verdwijnen ook binnen 24 uur.

Echt geen zin in deze nieuwe functie ? pic.twitter.com/iECQGBRfgk

— Daniël Verlaan (@danielverlaan) July 29, 2020

From the looks of it, the company is rolling out Fleets only to select users based in the Netherlands. Even though I’m based in Amsterdam, I still don’t have access to the new feature.

Twitter first revealed it was toying around with the idea of ephemeral content back in March, starting with some minor tests in Brazil. Later in June, the micro-blogging service revealed it was also experimenting with the new feature in India. Now it seems Fleets is entering new markets.

While Fleets are still public, they won’t circulate the network like tweets — they won’t appear in Search or Moments, for instance. Still, you can access fleets by heading to a user profile, and tapping on their avatar. You’ll also see a carousel of Fleets from the people you follow at the top of the app.

It remains unclear if the launch of Fleets in the Netherlands is part of a wider rollout, but we’ve reached out to Twitter for comment, and will update this piece accordingly if we hear back.