#RIPTwitter: Company tests Tweets that will vanish after 24 hours

Image courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: Twitter has announced to test tweets that will disappear after 24 hours. The test is initially being done in Brazil, similar to vanishing posts on Snapchat and Instagram stories.

According to the company, the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” because of their fleeting nature, are designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal tweets.

It further informed that "fleets" can’t be retweeted and they won’t have “likes”.

People can respond to them, but the replies show up as direct messages to the original tweeter, not as a public response, turning any back-and-forth into a private conversation instead of a public discussion.

Kayvon Beykpour, the company's product lead, told BBC that the new feature will allow people to post their thoughts that they might feel uncomfortable to share. 

Posting on Twitter can feel "permanent and performative" which can intimidate some users, he said .

In a seven-part post on Twitter, Kayvon Beykpour wrote, "We're hoping that Fleets can help people share the fleeting thoughts that they would have been unlikely to Tweet." 

The vanishing messages will appear when a user's profile picture is clicked. The users, however, will not be able to reply, like, or publicly comment on these disappearing messages.

Meanwhile, the “fleets” have prompted the hashtag #RIPTwitter to trend as users appear not happy with the new feature as they said it would make the micro-blogging site similar to other social media platforms.