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Parler: What is it, and is it for you?
Our 2020 Presidential Election proved one thing: America is split half conservative, half liberal.
The conservative half is fed up with Twitter and moving on. These users are tired of Twitter’s algorithms and corporate management regulating speech on its platform.
A 2-year-old Twitter-Facebook alternative has suddenly exploded to become America’s No. 1 downloaded news app. Parler, which is French for “to talk,” was set up to be a nonbiased, free speech-driven platform. While it’s supposed to be pronounced “par-lay,” the world has settled on “par-lour.”
Is Parler pro-conservative?
On its site, Parler says, “Parler is for the curious, creative, and objective individual. We are here for everyone that wants to have a dialogue from all sides.” While Parler was not established as a conservative-only platform, most users are right-wing.
Big names are on board with accounts. While Donald Trump is not yet a member, Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric are. So is Rudolph Giuliani and other heavyweight conservatives such as Sean Hannity, Ted Cruz and Mark Levin. News organizations, including “Breitbart,” “The Daily Caller,” and “The Epoch Times,” are active on the site, too.
Facebook’s algorithm: Have a love-hate relationship with Facebook? Take more control over your feed. Tap or click for ways to ditch the algorithm and see what you want to.
How Parler is like Twitter
Functionally, Parler is almost identical to Twitter. If you have used Twitter, jumping into Parler is nothing. There are merely new icons and action words.
Instead of tweets, you have “parlays.” Instead of retweets, you have “echoes.” You “upvote” a post to show you liked it.
You can post GIFs, photos, and memes as well as follow accounts and use hashtags. Parler posts are almost triple the size limit as Twitter, or up to 1,000 characters. You can block or mute other users, too.
Much like other social media platforms, you create a profile when you sign-up. Your photo, background image, and a short bio are available for other members to view.
AI can now tell if your political leanings are conservative or liberal using just your face. Algorithm VGGFace2 can suss you out with over 70% accuracy. Apparently, liberals have smaller lower faces, while conservatives’ faces are typically larger and wider. And independent voters? Theirs go straight down the middle. OK, I made that one up.
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