Remember Donald Trump? Not long ago, there was a time where you could barely get through an hour, let alone a day, without hearing his views on something. Since being booted off both Twitter and Facebook in January 2021 though, it’s been a lot harder for the outspoken former US President to get his face in the news.
He hasn’t gone away though, and in February this year, Trump launched his own social media app called Truth Social, claiming he wanted to “stand up to the tyranny of big tech”.
It hasn’t gone entirely to plan though, with interested parties struggling to access and use the platform, key developers resigning from the company and usage of the app being generally low – indeed, Trump himself has reportedly only posted on it once.
With Trump being such a “love him or hate him” character, it’s to be expected that not everyone will want to flock to his new venture. Nonetheless, there are several basic usability issues that seem to be doing the site no favours. Here are a few that have been mentioned:
Glitches
Particularly upon its launch, Truth Social seemed to struggle to cope with the number of people trying to access it. Trump promised to rectify these issues by March 31, but Forbes accuses him of “whiffing” on this deadline.
Many of those who have accessed it don’t seem particularly impressed with its interface, remarking that it looks similar to Twitter, with posts being called “truths” instead of “tweets”, and that the direct messaging function has not been activated.
Not available on Android
It seems pretty ludicrous that the Truth Social app cannot be downloaded by Android users. Even amateur app developers usually ensure their creations are usable on both iPhone and Android devices, yet Trump is talking of taking down “big tech” with an app not available on one of the most popular types of phone.
Whether this is Trump sticking his middle finger up at Google or not, Android boasts around three quarters of the global market share, so it’s a huge audience he’s missing out on.
Huge waiting list, yet nobody using it
A writer from Business Insider recently described Truth Social as a “ghost town”, with much of the content on it generated by bots. It’s ironic then that there seems to be a huge waiting list to join it.
BBC reporter James Clayton recently tried to sign up and was told that he was number 1,419,631 on the waiting list, suggesting there are still issues with vetting and introducing new users.
While new social media sites should always be monitored, it seems Trump has some way to go before he can make his platform compete with the big boys. For advice on social media use via more conventional channels, speak to Engage Web.
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