Just when you thought today’s leading apps like Facebook and YouTube could never be replaced comes a new study that highlights major alternatives to the norm.
The research comes to us thanks to the Pew Research Center. They took out the time to analyze seven different types of social media apps that call themselves out as being the best alternative to huge platforms leading in today’s tech world.
Some apps are definitely more popular than others. And those included in the list are Telegram, Parler, Truth Social, Gab, Rumble, and even BitChute.
A total of 10,000 American adults were surveyed in the month of May this year and they were given the chance to critique the apps through their websites. Similarly, they were asked to go through the common topics discussed on such accounts as well.
In that study, the research center found around 6% of respondents got news from nearly one of the different platforms examined. Meanwhile, around 65% of the users surveyed confirmed they located a community that held the same views as them.
It’s no surprise here that politics was a huge factor in this ordeal. Many noted how many of the apps were under the influence and pressure of political polarization and the divide seen among American partisans in the world of media.
Those who did claim to be getting news through such apps were found out to be Republicans or those that didn’t favor the Democratic party, as compared to those seen on the usual or more popular sites. There, Democrats held the majority in terms of the user group.
Researchers from the Pew team said that around 54% of the accounts that were analyzed appealed to a certain value of some form of political orientation across their profiles. And then around 26% were huge fans of Donald Trump.
Some other interesting findings observed included the likes of having pro-American views while others held a basic religious identity. Some had pro-gun sentiments and there were also a few that did support the famous conspiracy theories linked to Qanon.
But in general, all of the seven platforms that were classified as alternatives to the norm were seen as supporting the concept of free speech. Around half of them also declared strongly how they were against censorship and that’s why that was the best alternative to the names that come under the banner ‘big tech’.
Meanwhile, every platform other than Gab was seen to be modering content of users to some degree that went beyond the typical spam or requirements by the law to delete posts or ban and suspend accounts when the offerings were racist, violent, offensive, and more.
And when users were asked what they got from such apps and not as much from others, their answer was simple. It was related to freedom of speech and don’t have the usual censorship rules in place.
On the other hand, those that use the typical big tech giants called out such alternative apps as being misleading and inaccurate. They also strongly felt that it had a very strong sense of political bias. So, which platforms hit a home run as compared to others?
Well, Pew claims that 15% of the accounts that were examined had been banned or stripped of their monetization features. And in terms of the apps, BitChute had the most number of apps banned as compared to others. In second place was Rumble and in third was Gab.
It was Truth Social, the app owned by former US president Donald Trump that was seen having the largest number of prominent accounts.
Read next: New Research Says Millions Of Apps On The Google Play Store And App Store Weren’t Updated In Over Two Years
The research comes to us thanks to the Pew Research Center. They took out the time to analyze seven different types of social media apps that call themselves out as being the best alternative to huge platforms leading in today’s tech world.
Some apps are definitely more popular than others. And those included in the list are Telegram, Parler, Truth Social, Gab, Rumble, and even BitChute.
A total of 10,000 American adults were surveyed in the month of May this year and they were given the chance to critique the apps through their websites. Similarly, they were asked to go through the common topics discussed on such accounts as well.
In that study, the research center found around 6% of respondents got news from nearly one of the different platforms examined. Meanwhile, around 65% of the users surveyed confirmed they located a community that held the same views as them.
It’s no surprise here that politics was a huge factor in this ordeal. Many noted how many of the apps were under the influence and pressure of political polarization and the divide seen among American partisans in the world of media.
Those who did claim to be getting news through such apps were found out to be Republicans or those that didn’t favor the Democratic party, as compared to those seen on the usual or more popular sites. There, Democrats held the majority in terms of the user group.
Researchers from the Pew team said that around 54% of the accounts that were analyzed appealed to a certain value of some form of political orientation across their profiles. And then around 26% were huge fans of Donald Trump.
Some other interesting findings observed included the likes of having pro-American views while others held a basic religious identity. Some had pro-gun sentiments and there were also a few that did support the famous conspiracy theories linked to Qanon.
But in general, all of the seven platforms that were classified as alternatives to the norm were seen as supporting the concept of free speech. Around half of them also declared strongly how they were against censorship and that’s why that was the best alternative to the names that come under the banner ‘big tech’.
Meanwhile, every platform other than Gab was seen to be modering content of users to some degree that went beyond the typical spam or requirements by the law to delete posts or ban and suspend accounts when the offerings were racist, violent, offensive, and more.
And when users were asked what they got from such apps and not as much from others, their answer was simple. It was related to freedom of speech and don’t have the usual censorship rules in place.
On the other hand, those that use the typical big tech giants called out such alternative apps as being misleading and inaccurate. They also strongly felt that it had a very strong sense of political bias. So, which platforms hit a home run as compared to others?
Well, Pew claims that 15% of the accounts that were examined had been banned or stripped of their monetization features. And in terms of the apps, BitChute had the most number of apps banned as compared to others. In second place was Rumble and in third was Gab.
It was Truth Social, the app owned by former US president Donald Trump that was seen having the largest number of prominent accounts.
Read next: New Research Says Millions Of Apps On The Google Play Store And App Store Weren’t Updated In Over Two Years
