mrhackio podcast

Rise of Parler and MeWe apps

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Interesting phenomena. So if you’re going to like App Store on in the United States, you will see that top three apps right now are not like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok. And it’s actually quite unknown apps which are called Parler and MeWe Network. So for like for Europeans, it can be totally something unknown. But I just try to explain you like my view on it. What what is this about?

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So basically I first noticed Parler app might be around like earlier in 2020 of maybe like during the spring of 2020. And I was like, what is this app is about? So this is just basically like a social media app, which is just like a super simple app, like a clone of Facebook or maybe a clone of Facebook and Twitter. Yeah, so like, why is this app suddenly appeared in the top hundred apps on App Store?

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And then I just did a few videos about the app so you can check out them on my channel. Just search for Mrhackio on YouTube and you can just find a few of those videos. So and then I just figure out that it started to appear in top hundred charts on App Store because of people who are not happy, especially in the United States with Facebook and Twitter.

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So these apps, especially Parler and MeWe, found a niche where they position themselves as kind of alternative to Facebook and Twitter. And then they see a lot of users coming from apps like Facebook, Instagram, just to share, to participate in communities, to create communities, find groups and stuff like that.

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So these are the reasons why right now after presidential elections in the United States, a lot of people, especially on the right side, are not like happy with like traditional social media apps. And they’re just trying to find some escape in alternatives and alternative apps, which kind of offer a free speech. So I think Parler and MeWe apps just found the top spot there. And yeah, just my traffic about these apps on the website and YouTube channel is skyrocketing.

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And people are just searching like how to install Parler app, how to download, how to create an account. All of that. Yeah.

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So yeah, just a few words so Parler  is a free app, super easy to install. And yeah, the issue is that Parler is just like it’s like really just a clone of Twitter or Facebook. So you have, like, all the same features, but just a bit probably different color, just like a red color. And instead of retweet there is echo.

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So you don’t retweet. You just do like an echo. And yeah. So that’s that’s basically that. And then there are the different settings.

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But the main difference is that it positions itself as like an app for free speech and they marketed themselves as a free speech platform. So currently after presidential elections it remains among the top free app in Google and Apple app stores in the United States. So that’s pretty huge. It’s higher than TikTok, is higher than Instagram and Snapchat. They’re like the influencers on Parler app, getting like six hundred thousand followers. Yeah. And of course, these are mostly like right wing people there.

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And yeah, I was just like checking out like interviews, so like a CEO of social media platform Parler, John Matze, he was interviewed by CNBC back in July when there was like a first spike of this app in popularity and that he says they’re trying to use a decentralized model in monetizing so they wont be doing like standard ads, the same as Facebook or Twitter. They will be just using influencers to monetize the content. And he says that father presented itself as a town square of sorts without censorship in a time when some believe dominant Silicon Valley platforms have been out to censor conservative voices.

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So probably you have seen on Twitter or like first, I think Twitter, it was Twitter when Jack Dorsey first introduced, when you have some kind of a tweet and then the love that tweet, you would see this notification that probably you should double check this information or you should verify this information if it’s correct.

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So a lot of people were annoyed of it because then there was a question, are Twitter and Facebook publishers? Are these platforms publishers? Like a newspaper or magazine where you just need to kind of verify information or is just like a platform where you just have like different sources. And it’s not your job to verify your source. You just need to be like independent platform where information just goes. So of like still it’s I won’t be going there.

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I think it’s quite complicated question, but Parler and MeWe definitely found a niche in this area where they’re like they just focused on that. We are just a platform for free speech.

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And yeah, a lot of users, especially in politics, are just going to that app. Parler user growth surged to two million users.

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So another app which is competing Parler on that front is MeWe, so it’s no 2 in top charts.

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And it’s like it’s an alternative social networking site, uh. And like I also tried MeWe and I also made some videos and blog posts about this app, so you can also check them out on YouTube, channel our website, mrhackio.

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If you open MeWe, it’s mostly focused on communities. So Parler is more like Twitter or Facebook, but MeWe is more like you can create and join different communities. There are more like older people there, but there are a lot of right wing communities there right now.

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It is just like an interesting thing to see how that evolves and how people are not happy with their social media trying to find different. I’m completely neutral in political sense.

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Yeah, MeWe was also no 1 most downloaded social networking app on the App store on like 9th of November above Facebook, Messenger in United States App Store. So that’s like pretty impressive. MeWe raised five point two million dollars in 2018 is total funding of 10 million and is backing from celebrity investors such as fashion designer Rachel Ray and Lynda.com founder Linda Wineman.

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And Tim Berners Lee, who is like the father of World Wide Web, has even an adviser role in this app.

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So I think definitely there is kind of a trend there. And yet, according to a spokesperson for MeWe, the platform has now around even more than 10 million users. One million users sign up just during the last three days from November. So, yeah, that’s the app. But I would also advise you to be quite careful, because I like these apps that kind of positioning themselves as like free speech, but there are also like a lot of conspiracy theories.

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And so that’s like complete freedom kind of apps. But it’s just like an interesting phenomena from like tech point of view. These apps don’t have, like great design or some A.I. technology or some like other technical insight. But I just found this like wave and probably a hard area for Twitter and Facebook, and they just positioned themselves in a different way. And they’re seeing right now this surge of users.

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What do you think? Leave suggestions in the comments below. Is it worth it or not worth it to that app? And yeah, just like share your thoughts on this phenomena and thanks for joining the stream and see you in other streams.