Exploring Truth Social, the social media platform that is beating Twitter
Recently, Elon Musk, world’s richest entrepreneur took over the ownership of one of the most influential social media platforms, Twitter. Despite this mega event, a relatively new social media handle, named Truth Social, has been beating both Twitter and Tik Tok on Apple store. Interestingly, Musk has recently suggested that this trending social media site be renamed as Trumpet. In this context, let us find out what this social media does, who founded it and more
Truth Social: The origin story
Donald Trump, the former American President was permanently banned from Twitter in January 2021 during his final days of presidency. Following this ban, Trump had decided to launch his own social networking site that he claimed would stand up against censorship of free speech. Moreover, he also wanted to live up to the expectation of his 90 million Twitter followers. This is how the idea for Truth Social was conceived and launched within a span of a year on 21st February 2022 by Trump Media and Technology Group, also known by the name T Media Tech LLC.
Who is Truth Social meant for?
Truth Social has been designed and developed not as an alternative for mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook but as a site to challenge the “woke culture” (as per Trump) that is widespread on other social media networks. In fact, Truth Social is less about moderating content and more about accessibility, where reformists, extremists and even fringe groups are welcome. It is meant to be a place where individuals can interact freely with their peers without the fear of banning, throttling or worse social and political manipulation.
How to use Truth Social?
Truth Social can be downloaded on both iOS and Android devices using their respective app stores. Once installed, the user will be asked to provide their name, email address and phone number. This is how they can sign up. After signing up, one can choose a unique Truth Social handle and even choose an image from their device gallery to set up their profile. Once the profile is ready, one can start following people and even post truths.
How similar is Truth Social to Twitter?
Truth Social has a lot of similarity to Twitter. It may be because Twitter was once its founder Donald Trump’s social media platform of choice, or because it uses the same open-source interface, that is Mastodon. Furthermore, the workings of Truth Social and Twitter are also identical, where instead of tweets, people post truths and instead of re-tweets, they post re-truths. In fact, what is News Feed on Twitter is called Truth Feed on Truth Social.