You Can't Handle the Truth Social

Why? Because nobody can get inside to use Donald Trump's new social media toy. Is this a "velvet rope" launch or incompetence?

Have you heard of the “velvet rope” strategy?

This marketing strategy, or tactic, builds up a desire for a product or service.

The term “velvet rope strategy” comes from the nightclub scene, where people must wait outside to get into the “exclusive” clubs. There is usually a velvet rope barricade that holds back people from entering (there is also usually a scary-looking security guard keeping people behind the rope.)

Instead of letting everyone go inside simultaneously, the velvet rope technique works on people’s emotions. The lack of access makes getting inside more desirable.

Apple is known for this - with every new iPhone or other new product, long lines form outside Apple stores. The whole thing orchestrates suspense and desire.

The new social network known as Truth Social uses the velvet rope strategy.

Launched on Feb. 21, 2022, and founded by former President Donald Trump - the social network has me curious and wanting to get in.

I’ve been standing outside in the rain for the past month, waiting.

What I see when I open the Truth Social app:

I want in for the sake of curiosity. I have no expectations on whether or not I will enjoy the platform. Using the app will determine my opinions.

The problem is I can’t begin to give it a thumbs up or down because I’m not inside.

Until recently, I’ve been admiring Truth Social’s use of the velvet rope strategy. Everyone who joins Truth Social gets immediately placed on a waitlist (a type of velvet rope.)

As you can see in my screenshot above, I am the 655,737 person in line outside the doors of Truth Social.

I heard or read somewhere that the platform is purposefully trickling in users as a way to prevent the platform from being flooded with bots. That sounded like a plausible plan and made Truth Social more appealing to me after seeing so many bots on other socials like Facebook and Twitter.

But the longer this wait goes on, the less appealing it feels.

I’m not going to say that this is a “botched rollout.” However, suppose Truth Social doesn’t start communicating more authentically and clearly with their waitlist. In that case, they are moving quickly toward a huge wasted opportunity that will kill the platform’s momentum and cause a lot of people to stop waiting with anticipation and instead walk away disappointed.

The app is easy to download, and signing up was a breeze.

But everyone I know is still on the waitlist to get in. I hear people who have a waitlist number in the 200,000s are still waiting, which doesn’t get me excited at 655,000.

According to this article on The Verge, Truth Social is going to be similar to Twitter, but with different terminology: “Instead of tweets, Truth Social reportedly refers to individual posts as “Truths” which are shown to users on a “Truth Feed.” If you see a “Truth” that you want to share with your followers, you can apparently “ReTruth” it. Other features under development are support for direct messaging, as well as user verification, according to the platform’s chief product officer.”

What Donald Trump is Saying About Truth Social

The most recent public comments that I could find from Trump talking about Truth Social occurred back in late February during his talk at CPAC.

From the Conservative Brief: “There’s death in Ukraine, and he’s able to use the power of very sick people,” he said of the executives in Big Tech. “These are very bad people that control it.”

He said, “what they are doing is so bad for our country.”

“Legal or not, I’m not sure,” he said. “And it gets a lot of people, we will tell you that what they’ve done is terrible, and we’re doing TRUTH Social.”

“Truth,” the 45th President of the United States said. “It’s about the truth and I think it’s going to be very big, and if you look at it now, how well it’s doing—people are amazed—it’s trending like, number one all over the place, and it’s going to be great, and we need it.”

He argued that his new app would give “a voice,” to people who can not say what they want to on other apps.

“Because these people, there’s something wrong with them,” he said. “They’re almost, perhaps, they’re sick. Perhaps they’re deranged.”

He criticized Facebook, Twitter and others for giving a platform to “stone-cold murderers and thugs and dictators at a very dangerous level” but “the President of the United States and other people are not allowed to be on.”

“It’s a disgrace,” the former president said. “And you know, I had hundreds of millions of people, but I think that TRUTHSocial is going to be a way of getting out our voice.”

“It’s going to be very powerful,” he said and he confirmed, “I’ll be using it. Yeah. I’ll be using it.”

But Trump’s activity level on Truth Social doesn’t match his praise, as “45” has either only made one or two or zero posts, depending on what I could find online.

Left-of-Center blog The Daily Beast reports that anonymous sources say Trump is quite angry with the launch of Truth Social: “In recent weeks, sources have heard the former president on the phone swearing gratuitously and asking things like, “What the fuck is going on” with Truth Social.

He’s repeatedly groused about the negative press and the less-than-stellar optics of the rollout, these sources said. And he’s demanded to know why more people aren’t using it—why the app isn’t swiftly dominating the competition.”

If you are one of the reported 500 beta users currently inside Truth Social, tell us in the comments how it’s going!

Trump’s app has sunk from the number 1 spot on the Apple app store for free downloads down to number 116.

According to Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes - Truth Social will not be “fully functional” until the end of March.

The velvet rope technique works as long as you don’t make people wait too long.

If Truth Social isn’t fully functional by April, that will be a terrible indicator of the social app’s future.

Patient conservatives who feel marginalized by Big Tech still hope that Truth Social can be their free-speech social media home - soon.

But they can’t be expected to wait patiently forever.