The microblogging site Twitter on Wednesday released a test of its own version of the “Stories” feature globally, including in India. Called “Fleets”, the function, which acts as a powerful tool to boost engagement on the platform, appears on the top section of the Twitter app, asking people to post pictures, texts, GIFs, and videos as their “fleeting thoughts”.
Targeting social networking moghul Jack Dorsey’s Twitter for copying Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; meme-makers in India are mocking the micro-blogging platform for incorporating a “copied” feature before adding the much awaited “edit” button for published tweets, as Omar Abdullah, the former state chief of India’s Jammu and Kashmir pointed out.
In hilarious satire, some netizens are now expecting to see the same feature on Microsoft Excel as well.
As of now, it remains unclear when the test feature will be rolled out in full capacity for all of Twitter’s over 330 million monthly active users worldwide.
Following Snapchat, Facebook-owned Instagram added the “Stories” feature in 2016 – which is used by over 500 million Instagrammers on a daily basis worldwide. Facebook soon added the same feature on its main app, as well as its instant messaging app – WhatsApp.
Even at the time, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was criticised for copying Snapchat’s feature – just like Twitter is being trolled for currently.
Unlike Snapchat, Facebook’s family of apps still does not notify users when somebody included in their social networking circle takes a screenshot – a function that keeps users alerted – and for now it remains unclear if Twitter will incorporate the detail in its “Fleets”.