Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Twitter is evolving beyond tweets

Twitter is evolving beyond tweets

Twitter wants to be more than just 280-character blocks of text.
On Tuesday, the social network announced disappearing tweets and previewed a few more upcoming features, including audio.

Twitter (TWTR) is launching "Fleets," which are posts that disappear after 24 hours, starting Tuesday. The "Stories" format was popularized by Snapchat in 2013, and platforms including Instagram, Facebook (FB) and YouTube have since released their own versions of vanishing posts.

Unlike typical tweets, Fleets do not receive retweets, likes or public replies. Users can only react or respond to them with direct messages, much like on Instagram and Snapchat. Twitter began testing Fleets in Brazil earlier this year. Fleets will appear in a line on top of the feed.

The idea is to reduce the pressure many people feel on social media.

"Some of you tell us that Tweeting is uncomfortable because it feels so public, so permanent, and like there's so much pressure to rack up Retweets and Likes," Twitter said in a blog post. "To help people feel more comfortable, we've been working on a lower pressure way for people to talk about what's happening."

Twitter is also doubling down on audio features, including expanding its test of voice tweets, testing audio in direct messages in Brazil, and introducing a new experiment called "audio spaces," which it expects to be available before the end of the year.

"Audio spaces" is similar to another concept that has recently become popularized by Clubhouse, a buzzy but also controversial platform that is still in invitation-only mode, where users can start "rooms" with certain people leading a discussion and others listening.

Twitter was light on details, but described its feature as a live audio space where multiple people can communicate and discuss or debate a topic. The company emphasized it would like people to feel safe and comfortable in these spaces, although didn't elaborate on what controls that could result in.

Twitter said its feature will initially only be rolled out to a "very small group" of women and those from marginalized backgrounds, both of which are disproportionately impacted by abuse and harassment on the platform, the company said.

When asked about audio spaces on a call with reporters and whether it's trying to emulate what Clubhouse is doing, Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour pushed back.

"We need to support other formats. We need to support other use cases that help people have more thoughtful debate, more thoughtful exchanges that you can't pack into 280 characters," he said. "It's not a 'here's an interesting startup doing something interesting, let's try to replicate it.'"

Twitter also teased that it's looking into ways for users to be able to give "private feedback," for example telling someone they crossed a line and need to take a breather. This could take the form of a notification or a nudge from Twitter itself.

Audio and an emphasis on more private communication could bring fresh challenges for Twitter, such as how these features will be effectively moderated. The company also faced criticism for its voice tweets test not having transcription options, which made it inaccessible for people with hearing issues. The company is now working on transcriptions for all media on Twitter, which it expects to roll out next year.

Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, said Twitter's recent features and tests, such as Fleets, are "overdue."

"Social media is evolving and Twitter needs to catch up," Williamson said. "Fleets give Twitter a way to compete in the 'Stories' arena that Snapchat and Instagram have occupied for years. ... Twitter hasn't moved super quickly when it comes to launching new features, so I'm not surprised that Fleets has been slow to launch as well."

But while Twitter is launching a Stories copycat, other social platforms have already moved on to mimicking the next big thing: TikTok and short-form video. Instagram has launched a product called Reels, while YouTube began testing "Shorts" in India.

Beloved short-form video app Vine, which preceded TikTok, was acquired and then later shut down by Twitter in 2017.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×