I had been hearing about Parler for some time last year (2020) but never really got around to trying it out. Then once I heard that Apple, Google, Twitter and Amazon were working together to ban the site I could not resist and downloaded a copy of the App before midnight and set up an account. Now it would seem that actions taken by Google and Twitter were not enough to stomp out Parler, so Amazon was inlisted to remove the site from is AWS which distributes the site. That being said, many suggest that the site will close at midnight tonight, which is the time that Amazon has claimed that it would remove Parler from is AWS servers. 

I am going to check in on Parler tonight to see if that is true. As of the time of this writing Parler is still up and running. 

Having joined Parler it's a lot like any other "new" social media platform... You don't know anyone, you're not sure if you trust the platform enough to share information and all of the controls are a "What does this do" experiment. I have been checking around the forum and it would seem they have some sort of "point" system for infractions, although I am not sure why considering they boast of being the site of free speech. There is also an oppertunity for ANYONE to register and become "Verified" by uploading a photo of your drivers licence or State ID. Obviously I did not do this because I'm not sure I can trust Parler, but on many other social media platforms they have a special little icon for famous people and their friends to vefify they are in fact the real people they claim to be, only with Twitter and Instagram the bar for such a verification icon is not as simple as providing your ID, rather they insist that you are a celebrity or public figure in addition to whatever identification they require. This is wrong on so many levels, but it's the norm and it's what companies like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have traditionally got away with, and so it continues. 

The lay out of the site is similar to that of Twitter, although pretty much all of them are now days anyway. I find it hard to connect to people and Parler seems to have their own censorship at work by giving verfied people more exposure than someone like me who is just testing the waters. What this means is your post won't be distributed as widely as say, someone like Sean Hannity who is a verified media talking head. So there is a little hypocrisy there and much like how Twitter took advantage of Trump and jumped the shark, I am sure Parler is also looking to do the same thing with the Republican party. Naturally Twitter, Facebook and Instagram fear any kind of traction by any other social media site so they have joined together to put it down before it becomes a viable option and they all end up in the unempoyment like next to Tom from MySpace.

Feel free to share any tricks or tips if you are a Parler member! We have 14 years of protecting free speech under our belts here and we welcome any comments you may have.