Twitter now has its own stories feature. How should brands use Fleets?

With its recently launched Fleets feature, Twitter joins other social media platforms giving users the option to create content that disappears after 24 hours. How should brands be using it?

According to a recent snap poll conducted by YouGov, a plurality (45%) of American Twitter users aware of the new feature say brands should use it to promote discounts or sales. Meanwhile, a third (33%) say it should be employed when a brand has a new product to launch, and a quarter (25%) of respondents would like to see “behind-the-scenes” content on the medium.

Twitter says it wants the disappearing content to feel more “personal and casual,” which can help both consumers and brands alike. A week after Fleets started rolling out on November 17, YouGov data shows about two in five (39%) of Twitter users were aware of the feature.

While most users have neither viewed nor posted Fleets, a third (33%) have viewed Fleets but not posted and 6% have viewed and posted during the first week of the feature’s release.

When asked why they weren’t ‘fleeting,’ half (50%) of American users who have viewed Fleets but have not posted any said they don’t want to post that type of content, while roughly a third (35%) said they already post stories on other apps.

As for other reasons users are forgoing fleets, about a quarter (24%) say they don’t generally share any content on Twitter, 13% said no one else they know is doing it, and one in 10 (10%) don’t know how to.

The feature is well on its way to becoming routine for some users. A week after the feature’s launch, about one in five users said they would check the disappearing content at least once a day (13% once a day and 8% more than once a day). About three in ten (29%) say they’ll check them at least once a week (suggesting that brands may only have a one-in-seven chance of catching some of these consumers as their posts disappear)

Much like the stories features on other platforms, Fleets appear as user bubbles on a banner across the top of the app, making it the first thing the user sees when the app opens.

Despite the major addition to the app, nearly seven in ten (68%) of Twitter users say it won’t affect how much they open the app. Nearly one in five (18%) say it encourages them to open the Twitter app more and 13% say it discourages them from opening the app more.

Methodology: YouGov polled 403 American Twitter users (those who indicated they use Twitter at least once a month) who have heard of the Fleets feature. The survey was conducted on November 24, 2020 between 9:43 a.m. and 12:12 p.m. Eastern time. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. The margin of error is approximately 4.9% for the overall sample.

Image: Twitter