The US-based microblogging platform Twitter will begin testing advertising in Fleets, its competitor to the “stories” features on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram that let users post disappearing updates.
The social media company previously said it set a goal of doubling its annual revenue by 2023 from last year’s levels and the current move is one way Twitter is working to monetize users and create new income streams.
Twitter’s ad revenue grew 32 percent year over year in the first quarter to $899 million with total ad engagement increasing 11 percent over the same period. The company is making a broad effort to build more features at a faster clip as it seeks to grow to 315 million daily active users by the end of 2023.
The social media platform rolled out Fleets to all users in November. The posts show up at the top of users’ apps above their feed and allow users to post text, reactions to tweets, and photos or videos.
Fleet ads will be the first on Twitter that appears full screen on phones. Brands can add a “swipe-up” option that would direct a user to the company’s website or other web destination for users to learn more about the product or service being advertised.
The new offering is part of Twitter’s aim to catch up to larger social media platforms like Facebook and Snap, which have long offered a “Stories” posts feature that disappears after 24 hours and is monetized with ads.
The test ads will be visible for a limited group of people in the US on iOS and Android. The American fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s is participating in the pilot, along with nine other advertisers in the consumer packaged goods, tech, dining and retail spaces, the company said.
Twitter said as it experiments, it will seek to understand how the ads perform for customers not just on Fleets ads but also for future iterations of full-screen formats on the platform.
