After being banned from all mainstream social networking sites, former President Donald Trump has created his own platform, which only he uses currently. Some say that outsmarting the tech giants could be tide-turning, but experts are skeptical about the new project.
“Stop the count!”
There is probably not a single person who has not heard Donald Trump’s infamous message at least once since November, which he posted on Twitter the night of the U.S. presidential election only when it started to become apparent that Joe Biden had worked his way back from a deficit behind the Republic candidate and won the election.
Trump demanded a halt to counting votes, which caused many people to flip out, even though we should have been used to the former president disparaging public opinion with his Twitter posts. Political critics are increasingly highlighting the fact that today’s politicians are disregarding the mainstream press and are rather using social media to directly communicate with voters. Trump stood out even more, since he only communicated with his supporters on Twitter.
At times, Trump insinuatingly threatened North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un with a nuclear strike and called porn-actress Stormy Daniels (who came forward with a previous affair the two had had) a horseface; it was also memorable when he told four minority congresswomen to go back to the countries they came from. During his presidency, he totaled 23,858 posts on the microblog. This was his primary communications weapon; without a doubt, his continuous Twittering would have been a pivotal part of politicizing in opposition. That is why Trump was particularly upset over being banned earlier this year not only from Twitter, but also from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The real twist came after his lost election, when Trump’s tweets flooded the page claiming a steal. Twitter operators needed to respond. They labeled all of the former president’s election-related tweets and informed users that regardless of what Trump exclaimed, Biden had won the election.
The seat under Trump was getting warm, but it got red hot after the Capital riot in January. After he clearly did not condemn his followers for breaking into the legislature’s building, breaking things, looting and clashing with law enforcement, Twitter banned the former president’s account initially for 12 hours. Then Twitter made it inaccessible permanently. After the events, the platform’s owner, Jack Dorsay, said that he was not happy that this had to be the final decision. It was partly seen as Dorsay’s failure that things had deteriorated this far, but after these events, they had no other choice.
During his months of “exile,” Trump was noticeably quiet as more and more people started envisioning that he had finally acknowledged his defeat and withdrawn from public life. His new communications platform that launched on Tuesday indicates otherwise.
From the Desk of Donald J. Trump
After his ban, a lot of people wondered what Trump was going to do, whether he would be able to control his urge to communicate, and if not, on which platform he would make his return. It would have made sense if, for example, he would have started a new chapter on Telegram, since that is the type of alt-right forum where hardcore Trump supporters and QAnon believers come together. Yet, Trump has taken a completely different path.
Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former senior campaign manager, had already hinted in March that the former president would soon launch his own social site, which Lewandowski described as an “interactive communication tool” where people could directly communicate with Trump.
“What we’ve seen from Big Tech and the cancel culture is, if you don’t agree with their philosophy they’re going to cancel you, and we’re going to have a platform where the president’s message of America First is going to be able to be put out to everybody, and it’ll be an opportunity for other people to weigh in and communicate in a free format without fear of reprisal or being canceled,” Lewandowski commented a few months ago on their plans.
However, we still have to wait for bilateral communication. The site entitled, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” currently provides the former president with a stable surface and right now looks more like a classic message board. Since March 24, there have been 40 entries from Trump’s keyboard without exception. An important difference compared to Twitter is that there is no sign of a 280-character limit and that one cannot comment on the entries; instead, users can like them. Users also have the chance to share the thoughts that appear here to platforms where Trump is banned.
The communication strategy is the same on the new site, as so far, the published entries here also focus on election-related conspiracy theories and attacks on his political opponents. His Easter greeting, for example, went like this: “Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election, and want to destroy our Country!”
An account called From the Desk of Donald J. Trump already appeared on Twitter a few hours ago, but it has been banned since then. The portal called Slate also wrote about Trump’s site; one of their writers spotted that the site collects data from users who like posts.
Is It Sentenced to Death?
Facebook’s competent oversight board announced that they will not lift the ban on Trump’s profile, but this is not at all a surprise. The new platform was probably launched the day before Facebook’s decision was announced, in anticipation of the ruling. Proponents of the former president could be hoping that outsmarting the mainstream tech giants can change the political tide, but experts are skeptical about Trump’s new social media site.
Stephen A. Greyser, a marketing and communications expert at Harvard, told Business Insider that it is unlikely that Trump’s support will be substantially increased by a new community site. The goal is probably to unite existing supporters. It is perfectly suited for this goal and it’s a guarantee that Trump will continue to be a prominent figure in the public arena. Its real pitfall will not be that, but rather how financially viable it will be for Trump’s team to operate the new site.
“Any new site would face stiff competition from others trying to get a sliver of attention from Americans already overwhelmed with online options,” Peter Loge, an associate professor at George Washington University, also told Business Insider. He does not predict a serious future for Trump’s project because of the shrinking advertising market. For serious advertisers to come to the site, it requires a wide audience that is willing to click on the ads — the existing camp might not be enough for that. Trump will certainly invest large sums into the project, but the question is, how much will he sacrifice in the long run if it does not live up to its promises? Especially considering the fact that only he can actively use the new social site right now.
So now, everyone is eagerly watching what will happen to Trump’s experiment, which could be tide-turning according to some and could reform Americans’ relationship with social media. Loge is trying to apply the brakes: “Donald Trump says a lot of things. Before he was elected, he said he would rarely leave the White House and that he wouldn’t have time to play golf and that he’d give up Twitter if elected.”
After all, the latter did happen — just not willingly.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.