Twitter’s equivalent to the Stories feature, known as “Fleets,” has now been released in Japan. This new functionality enables users to share temporary content that vanishes automatically after a 24-hour period. While Fleets was initially introduced in Brazil, India, Italy, and South Korea, Japan represents a particularly significant market for Twitter, ranking as its second largest with an estimated user base of 51.9 million.

The country also holds the position of Twitter’s second highest revenue generator, primarily through advertising. During the third quarter of 2020, Japan contributed $132.4 million in revenue, following the U.S. which generated $512.6 million.

Twitter frequently explores innovative features—it even once created a novel method for managing conversation threads, developing a public prototype with direct user input. However, not every feature under consideration ultimately reaches a full launch.

The continued rollout of Fleets to Japan demonstrates Twitter’s sustained commitment to this product. It appears to be only a matter of time before Fleets becomes available in Twitter’s largest market, the United States.

However, the U.S. market could prove to be the most challenging for Fleets, as many users there have expressed concerns about the increasing similarity between various social media applications.

Successful features on one platform are often quickly adopted by others. This pattern was first observed with the “feed” format, which was inspired by Facebook’s News Feed. The Stories format, initially popularized by Snapchat, followed suit. Currently, platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are incorporating short-form video features reminiscent of TikTok.

Consequently, applications risk losing the distinct characteristics that set them apart.

Historically, Twitter has been relatively deliberate in adopting features from other social networks. In fact, it is among the last major platforms to embrace Stories—a feature now even found on LinkedIn.

Furthermore, in Twitter’s specific context, the Stories feature might fulfill a different role than on competing networks.

Rather than providing a space for lower-quality content—posts that users might not deem worthy of a prominent position in their main feed—Fleets could encourage users who are hesitant to engage with the platform’s public nature to begin sharing content. Alternatively, it could motivate existing users to increase their posting frequency and overall engagement.

Twitter’s Fleets function similarly to Stories on other platforms. Users can post text, images, GIFs, or videos by tapping the “+” (plus) button. Viewers then navigate through the Fleets shared by others using intuitive gestures. These Stories appear at the top of the app’s home screen, mirroring the presentation on other platforms.

According to TechCrunch, Twitter has informed them that all users in Japan should soon have access to Fleets on their accounts, but a specific timeline for a U.S. launch has not been disclosed.