In early 2022, former President Donald Trump created a new social media platform called Truth Social, after he was prohibited from using popular sites like Facebook and Twitter (previously known as the platform). This was due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

He has been reinstated to both platforms but has not been active on X, which is owned by Elon Musk and used to be his main platform for sharing his opinions. His posts on Facebook mainly consist of videos and images featuring slogans and messages such as “THANK YOU, MISSOURI! Together, WE will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!”

It is improbable that this will change, despite the fact that the organization behind Truth Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group, will soon be listed on the NASDAQ stock market. Last Friday, shareholders voted to approve a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., which is a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, often known as a blank check company.

These are some important facts to understand about the social media platform created by Trump and how it relates to other platforms in the social media world.

Prior to the existence of Truth Social, there was a brief-lived blog featured on Trump’s individual site known as “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” However, its lifespan was short and Trump’s team was already suggesting that the ex-president was developing a social media platform.

Truth Social launched in the Apple App store in February 2022. It was a glitchy start, but it shot to the top of Apple’s list of most downloaded free apps. While the platform sought to capitalize on the outrage over Trump’s social media bans to attract a broad audience, Truth Social, much like fellow right-leaning social media platforms Gettr and Parler, has not been able to move much beyond an echo chamber of conservative political commentary — if they are able to stay online in the first place.

Roxana Muenster, a student at Cornell University researching the far-right and digital communication, stated that the platform is being promoted as an alternative to mainstream media apps, with claims from Trump and his supporters that these apps censor their views and restrict free speech. The platform’s users are mostly conservative, specifically the MAGA base, and there is a significant amount of hate speech and extremism present due to the platform’s lenient content moderation policies.

The creator of Truth Social has not revealed the number of users. As stated in an official document, instead of using conventional indicators like revenue per user, ad views and prices, and active user accounts (including monthly and daily usage), TMTG has primarily focused on improving the platform’s features and user interface.

The research company Similarweb approximates that in February of this year, Truth Social had about 5 million users who were active. This includes both mobile users and those who visit the website. For comparison, TikTok has over 2 billion active users, and Facebook has over 3 billion, according to Meta’s reports. Despite this, Truth Social performs better than other alternative social media platforms, like Parler which recently returned to the Apple app store after being offline for over a year, and Gettr which had less than 2 million visitors in February.

Trump’s platform only has less than 7 million followers, whereas he has a significantly larger audience of 87 million on X.

“It is improbable that Truth Social will compete with traditional social media platforms in the near future. According to Muenster, Trump is the main attraction for some users on Truth Social, while for others it is the reason to stay away. However, it will face challenges in trying to rival X due to the nature of social media platforms. The success of social networks is often determined by their level of popularity: the more users they have, the more valuable they become through the effects of network growth.”

and increase user engagement.

The Digital World has recognized the importance of expanding its user population in order to achieve success. In a lengthy report submitted to American regulators, the organization outlined several potential challenges for TMTG. Primarily, it emphasized the necessity of increasing user involvement and expanding the user base on the platform.

“The company stated that for TMTG to achieve success, it will require a large number of users to register and consistently utilize their platform. However, any decrease in popularity for President Trump or the emergence of new controversies that negatively impact his credibility or the willingness of people to associate with a platform that benefits him financially, could potentially have a negative effect on TMTG’s financial performance.”

Truth Social is reminiscent of X in its appearance and design. It offers users the ability to create a profile, follow others, share their own “truths” or repost others’ and communicate through direct messages. Advertisements are referred to as “sponsored truths.”

To register, Truth Social requests an email address and phone number. Before completing the signup, users must consent to receiving text messages from the platform. This is unusual for social media platforms seeking a large user base, as it may deter some potential users. Unlike popular social media companies that allow teenagers to join, Truth Social has a minimum age requirement of 18, without age verification.

Truth Social’s feed is similar to that of X, featuring a purple color palette and a “for you” section with recommended content. It also includes posts from accounts that the user follows. The feed contains a large amount of political content that leans towards conservative views, with posts showing support for Trump and criticism of immigration and President Joe Biden.

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Trump has agreed to a clause in an agreement that extends until February 2025, where he must wait six hours after posting on Truth Social before posting any non-political updates on other social media platforms.

Unfortunately, this decision lies solely with the previous president and according to the company’s regulatory filing, as someone running for president, the majority or all of their social media posts may be considered politically relevant by the individual.

Recent social media platforms catering to conservative users, such as Truth Social, Parler and Gab, have not been able to replicate the popularity achieved by Facebook or X. This is partly due to the fact that Republican politicians and organizations already have a strong presence on established platforms, so there is not much incentive for them to switch to a new service.

The most recent 2022 Pew Research Center poll reported that only 27% of Americans were aware of Truth Social, and of those, only 2% used it for news. However, compared to other conservative apps, Truth Social performed relatively well, coming in second to Parler, which was briefly shut down after the January 6th incident.

Truth Social says it encourages an “open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology.” But while it has touted minimal content moderation, a 2022 report from the nonprofit Public Citizen found that early users experienced “bans after selecting usernames or authoring posts that made fun of or criticized the former president and his allies.”

According to Muenster, although Truth Social presents itself as a platform for free expression, it still employs some form of content moderation, such as restricting unlawful or copyrighted material. She also mentioned that the platform is more stringent when it comes to sexual content and language compared to others.

According to Muenster, the company’s policy allows them to determine what content they consider inappropriate. This gives them the power to ban accounts that mentioned the Jan. 6th investigation and parody accounts accused of pretending to be someone else.

Private corporations are responsible to their stakeholders, while public corporations are responsible to their stockholders who have ownership of the corporation’s stock. When it becomes a publicly traded entity, it has the potential to raise around $300 million for the corporation and it will be obligated to provide quarterly financial reports and important news updates to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Initially, Trump will have the majority of the stock, but if he chooses to sell them, the stock will be influenced by the stock market and investors will be seeking strong financial performance and expansion.

Truth Social, like X, is dealing with similar challenges regarding mainstream advertisers who do not want their brand to be connected with hate speech and other contentious material.

According to Muenster, X is facing a delicate situation. Users who are leaving X due to the actions and beliefs of its new owner are likely to switch to one of the many alternate platforms, such as BlueSky or Meta’s Threads, rather than supporting a platform owned by a politician with similar controversial views and behavior. However, if the acquisition is successful, Truth Social will have to satisfy the expectations of investors who are seeking a return on their investment. This will require the platform to attract a larger user base, and it will be intriguing to observe their strategy for achieving this goal.

Source: wral.com