Last week, Twitter started to rollout its ephemeral tweets features – Fleets – to all users globally. However, just days later, a bug on Twitter has been reported, which is causing the fleets to show even after 24 hours. The bug allowed fleets to be viewed and downloaded by other users, without notifying the fleet’s author, reported TechCrunch. Twitter has reportedly acknowledged the issue and says it is working on a fix for the bug.
“We’re aware of a bug accessible through a technical workaround where some Fleets media URLs may be accessible after 24 hours. We are working on a fix that should be rolled out shortly,” a Twitterspokesperson said.
Representational image: Reuters
On 18 November, Twitter Fleets started rolling out globally. The feature echoes similar features by Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. The company says 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. Twitter started testing this feature in June.
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.
To watch the Fleet posted by others, you will have to swipe upwards however, to see the next person’s fleet, you will have to swipe horizontally. There is a “sticker” like an option in Fleets called “Reply by DM” that will let users reply through direct message. In addition to this, you will also be able to reply to these fleets by an emoji.