Presidency gets with the times and sends out ‘fleet’

Not normally known for acting speedily in any situation, government surprised all and sundry this week when the Presidency seemingly grew wings on its feet and sent out a fleet – Twitter’s latest feature, which was rolled out on 17 November.

Fleets are supposed to be just that – fleeting – and disappear after 24 hours.

The social media app says the reason for “fleets” is to help users feel more comfortable and under less pressure to “rack up” retweets and likes, leaving many tweets left in drafts, The Citizen reported earlier.

“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation – it’s where you go to see what’s happening and talk about it. But some of you tell us that Tweeting is uncomfortable because it feels so public, so permanent, and like there’s so much pressure.

“We’ve been working on a lower pressure way for people to talk about what’s happening. Fleets is so everyone can easily join the conversation in a new way – with their fleeting thought,” says Twitter design director, Joshua Harris  and product manager Sam Haves‎on in a Twitter blog post.

The Presidency’s first-ever ‘fleet’.

It is not clear how the Presidency intended to have South Africans join the conversation in a new way “with their fleeting thoughts” on a fleet which would disappear after 24 hours, but it seems an experiment was being conducted.

After all, government announcements surely should remain in the public domain and not disappear after 24 hours.

Presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale explains: “Development in messaging technology is a very dynamic phenomenon, and government will therefore investigate the use of different platforms or new features on platforms as part of its effort to improve engagement with citizens and other stakeholders.

“In this we are guided by our communications objectives, the information needs of citizens and stakeholder groups, the access people have to the platforms we use, cost efficiency and our ability to reach people on such platforms,” he said.

The fleet, which has already disappeared or has been taken down, was also shared on the Presidency’s other social media accounts.

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