It was supposed to be an app killer. The app to free Republicans and conservatives from the constraints of Twitter and Facebook. Instead, Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” social media platform has been a complete trainwreck.
Three days later, hundreds of thousands of users are still waiting in queues…huge queues. Queues like social media has never seen before. Nobody has a bigger waiting list than Trump’s app.
Nobody does queues like Truth Social.
Related: America’s Breaking News App, CrimeNewz readies for April Launch.
Another problem with Truth Social is that it is only available on iPhone platforms and there’s no corresponding legacy web interface, tying an app geared for middle-aged and elderly Republicans conservatives to their iPhone. Studies have shown that most people over the age of 40 prefer to use their social media platforms on desktop devices.
Although Truth Social was the number one downloaded app on the iTunes store this week, the queue to get in is now at 500,000.
It’s huge.
If you are one of the lucky people to have been able to use the platform, you might be wondering right about now if Donald Trump himself is the moderator of the platform.
If you plan on going to the freedom of speech platform Truth Social, don’t exercise that freedom to mock the former president. That’s not allowed and will be censored faster than a “Do masks really work?” post on Twitter or Facebook.
“This rule is puzzling some users who thought that Trump’s long promised social media website was supposed to be a minimally moderated platform alternative from Twitter and Facebook, which Trump and his allies have complained censor and stifle right-leaning voices far disproportionately to those on the left,” the Daily Mail reported.
Aside from the “No Trump Trash Talking” rule, users are experiencing a host of other errors including validation emails not working, technical errors and the obvious elephant in the room…most people can’t even get onto the platform.
The terms of service of Truth Social deems harassment of employees or agents is a violation of the terms of service and a bannable office, especially when it comes to Trump and other high profile members of the company.
Still, without users and a financial model, Digital World Acquisition Group’s shares rose 14% after the app was released.
It will be interesting to see how and if Truth Social can recover from its launch blunders as people on waiting lists lose interest and as the platform becomes a battleground for Trump’s detractors.
In an attempt to counter Twitter and Facebook, it appears Truth Social has simply created an alternate reality echo chamber for the right to counter those two left-leaning echo chambers.
Praising Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before he invaded Ukraine also isn’t helping Trump this week. The former President is starting to have a Joe Biden kind of week. Today, on the President’s political website all of his statements returned 404 “page not found” errors for a short period of time before being restored.