Why Millions are Flocking to Parler

Social media platform Parler is becoming one of the fastest-growing alternatives to Facebook and Twitter. In July, after a Twitter exit campaign - dubbed #twexit - it reported 2.8 million registered accounts. After the November 2020 Presidential Election, the network more than doubled its user base.

According to Parler CEO John Matze, Parler servers saw about 2 million logons Saturday, November 7th - the same day its app reach #1 in the Free Apps category. And by Monday, November 9th, it reached the 8 million account milestone.

While the young social channel is attracting plenty of far-rights and other groups deemed "questionable," it's also home to people who are merely tired of the filtering of content that would typically fall under the First Amendment and being force-fed biased information. Contrary to popular belief, Parler was not founded as a conservative space. Matze has long desired for liberals to join the conversation, and at one point offered a $20,000 bounty to attract a liberal pundit to the platform.

Parler, in the simplest sense, is a free-speech social media network that doesn't mine people's data. Everything you see in your feed is based on real-time posting and commenting. There's no algorithm or psychology used to determine which content is most apt to keep you online.

Compared to Twitter and Facebook

Parler is often compared to two of the largest social media networks, Twitter and Facebook. However, it lacks many features users have come to love. Parler doesn't include groups (though it's working on those), polls, business pages, or third-party tie-ins like games and marketing tools. There's also no listening or posting APIs for third-party developers, so posting has to happen directly within the app or web browser.

It's also hashtag-centric; without using hashtags, your content won't come up in search results. As well, Parler's search function returns only users and hashtags.

Where Parler trumps the aforementioned networks is its moderation tools and NSFW filter. Each user has control over who can comment on their parleys (posts) and what type of comments can appear. Its user-initiated Sensitive Content filter leaves parleyers responsible for warning others about nudity or gruesomeness.

A Growing Platform

Parler is still in its infancy. Growing pains are being felt both behind-the-scenes and by the user base. Matze reported Parler had to quadruple its tech team to keep things running. Most recently, a success message appeared to ensure parleyers their content was being posted. This was the thwart repetitive submissions due to processing delays.

The network relies on community jurors to remove appropriately reported content, including unfiltered pornography, spam, and illegal activities.

Taking on social media giants

Matze is headstrong about taking on the largest social media networks. But Parler is also beating out MeWe with respect to new signups. On November 10th, MeWe moved up to the second-place slot for free apps. Just two days later, it had dropped to #8.

By mid-November, Parler had dropped to #67 in App Store, while Twitter dropped down to #22. Still, making and staying in the top 100 free apps list is a coveted position for any application.

Boycotting psychology as a manipulation tactic

Parler denounces using psychology to manipulate users' actions. This practice is widespread on big networks because it benefits companies in many ways, including financially. TikTok's For You Page is designed to keep you scrolling and watching until, eventually, it tells you it's time to take a break. Twitter promotes extensive sessions via trending hashtags and sponsored content. Facebook's algorithm successfully keeps people online, even to get sucked into heated debates.

While getting caught in a time trap is possible on Parler, it's based entirely on the members. No back-end magician is producing tailored feeds.

Can the lack of tailored content give Parler a competitive edge?

In July 2020, I was certain it couldn't put a dent Twitter's or Facebook's numbers. After months of censoring and "guiding" users to information, though, I can see the network gaining a healthy audience. Between Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the election, people are tired of not being able to have real discussions.

Netflix's documentary The Social Dilemma has also prompted many folks to think about how much control social media has over their lives. Yale professor Edward Tufte's comment about the holds networks have other people did not go unnoticed.

“There are only two industries that call their customers 'users': illegal drugs and software.”

It was enough to make Parler revisit how it labels 'users.' In October, Matze announced the company would start calling those using the platform 'people' or 'citizens.' The term 'parleyers' has also been adopted.

"I hate the term ‘users’ now,” Matze told Fox News.

Conspiracy theories and all

For many, one of the less-attractive aspects of social media is conspiracy theorists and gullibility. However, it's counterproductive to ban such conversations when the entire purpose is to promote free speech. For that reason, parleyers often find themselves needing to research posted content. But many agree they'd rather research to determine a parley's validity than have posts and comments fact-checked against potentially unreliable sources.

Welcoming user feedback

Parler heads regularly converse with members and consider requests to add certain features. The NSFW filter, parley confirmation, and profile settings updates all stemmed from people asking for ways to address specific issues.

Chief Technology Officer Alexander Blair posts frequent updates about the system's status and what the team is working on next.

Hopes for a more balanced audience

As of November 2020, Parler's user base is primarily conservative. However, plenty of members don't talk politics at all. The platform hosts a growing number of artists, musicians, hobbyists, and people who want to talk about everyday life. Because of its structure, it's possible to navigate Parler while avoiding political and related conversations.

See: Parler: Getting the Most of the Platform When You Don't Want to Talk Politics

Under immense scrutiny

Parler is under scrutiny primarily because of its largely conservative audience. However, after the 2020 Presidential Election, the entire social media industry is being questioned. Heated debates over who won the election resulted in thousands of conservative pages, groups, and accounts shut down on certain networks.

According to the New York Times, lawmakers from both major parties seem to agree that networks enforce content policies inconsistently. And network executives have acknowledged the need for reform.

All politics aside, the real issue has been taking control of one's voice. Social media users who value free speech want to speak their minds and only be stifled should they violate the First Amendment or a network's fairly-enforced policies.

Related reading:

• Parler 101: How to Use the Free-Speech Social Media Platform — An unofficial guide for everyone
• Why I Stayed on Parler — I realize I’m in the minority, on many different levels

Pamela Hazelton is an avid writer, marketer and business consultant. She’s an editor of 2 Minute Madness, Small Business Strong, The Work+Life Balance and Write, I Must publications on Medium, and manages the Small Biz Strong Substack. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Parler.