Have you tried the new Social Media App Parler?

Parler, pronounced Parlay is different than the teenybopper app Parlor. This one is the new social networking service launched by John Matze and Jared Thompson with financial backing from Rebekah Mercer who is the daughter of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer. 

The platform started off as an independent social media platform that was focused on free speech and data privacy. The app has been around since 2018 and only recently has begun to become popular. The reasons behind the apps popularity are driven by users of Facebook and Twitter who have had their content blocked or censored. 

Reportedly there were over 40,000 users who tried to sign up in one day all due to one tweet by conservative powerhouse Candice Owens. If you do not know who Candice Owens is, she is a young black conservative, author and political activist who recently filed a lawsuit against Facebook and other third party “fact checkers”.

Likewise other conservatives feel they they are being censored and have also created profiles on Parler. Many of them and their supporters feel that Parler is the antithesis to the current main stream social media networks and allows them to freely express ideas and opinions without fear of reprisal in the form of censorship or being de-platformed for having different political views. 

I have advocated for conservatives to create their own platforms so they could stop complaining about censorship by platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I always say if you don’t like something then create your own version of that. If you do not like the current vehicles that are manufactured today, then create your own brand. That is exactly what is happening now.

Parler is not the only platform that gives conservatives a voice. Rumble is very similar to YouTube and gives people a way to host and manage video footage while also allowing them a way to distribute and monetize content. Gab is another platform based on the idea that other sites were censoring speech. There are several others as well and a simple search will bring them up. Some are pretty intuitive to use, others still have some bugs to work out. I do know that if there is video or post that has been removed or blocked by one of the mainstream platforms it can usually be found on one of the alternative sites. 

When Parler was created it was intended to be a place for everyone to express themselves in a Twitter like atmosphere, although Parler gives you up to 1,000 characters. Not that I have ever made a tweet long enough to be close to the limit but it does give you more space to write. I jump on Parler every now and then and from what I can see it has sort of morphed into the very thing the creators were trying to avoid. I think it has become some what of an echo chamber. I do not see much use for a platform where everyone shares the same point of view. 

As difficult as it might be regardless of where one considers themselves on the political spectrum, try and chose a side that you do not agree with and listen to the arguments. This is very difficult to do because many of us have deeply rooted believes and it is difficult to listen to ideas we find on the other side of the argument. This combined with the fact that people nowadays are vicious in their arguments and it is difficult to find a moderate speaker on either side. 

So, If you want to step into the world of conservative social medial give Parler a look. They do have some limitations to what can be said on the site and from what I can see it is pretty much still the wild wild west. Although they will block spam, porn, threats, terrorism stuff, and violence against animals. Other than that you can pretty much say what you want on the site. 

Time will tell how long this platform will last and as of right now I think it is only gaining steam as we watch in disbelief as this poor excuse for an election continues, and as well see the big boys in the social media world continue to fact check, block, and censor any opinions they do not share. 

Have you checked Parler? What did you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts. Thanks for reading.