Twitter Abandons Fleets as Users Rejoice, Renew Push for Edit Button

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it will soon no longer offer Fleets, the full-screen tweets at the top of timelines that expire after 24 hours.

Many Twitter users celebrated the news while also calling for the much-requested ability to edit their messages.

Twitter rolled out Fleets eight months ago, though the feature never caught on. As YouTube host Marques Brownlee tweeted: "Fleets were fleeting."

Twitter's own tweet making the announcement simply read: "We're removing Fleets on August 3, working on some new stuff. We're sorry or you're welcome."

CNN polling and election analytics editor Ariel Edwards-Levy also couldn't resist taking a swipe at the news.

Many people asked Twitter when it will bring out an edit function. This user simply wrote: "No more fleets. Okay, edit button."

Another person wrote: "@Twitter while talking removing fleets can you please make it to where we can edit our tweets lol thank you." Another said, "Fleets are being removed but Twitter is working on new features. Give us what we want. AN EDIT BUTTON!!!"

One person went further with the requests, writing: "Things we ask for: edit buttons, bookmark folders, tweets from only people we follow in reverse chronological order. Things we didn't ask for: fleets."

Instagram and Snapchat found much more success than Twitter with disappearing stories, mostly in the forms of photos or videos. Twitter is now reportedly looking into ways in which it can incorporate features into the app's camera.

Twitter acknowledged in a blog post on Wednesday that it had higher hopes for Fleets, saying it hoped the option of disappearing tweets would encourage more people to post.

"We hoped Fleets would help more people feel comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter," the note read. "But, in the time since we introduced Fleets to everyone, we haven't seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped."

Perhaps this message sums up Fleets the best: "I clicked on Fleets exactly once, by accident."

Twitter has recently introduced other features, such as Spaces, an audio chat much like Clubhouse that launched this spring. A Tip Jar feature was also rolled out in 2021 to allow users to send money directly to other accounts.

However, what may prove most successful for those desiring an edit button is Blue. While not a full editing function, Blue's "Undo Tweet" option allows users to revise tweets that haven't yet been posted on Twitter. For the time being, though, Blue is available only in Canada and Australia.