Social Network - FrankSpeech

In 2021, driven by curiosity, I decided to take a look at some of the new social networking sites and apps that seemed to be appearing overnight, just as mushrooms after the rain. Many of these platforms emerged as alternatives in response to increasing censorship on mainstream social media sites such as Twitter (now X) and YouTube. One of those alternatives was known as Frank. Later, it was rebranded as FrankSpeech. It was a social network and video streaming platform that was funded and created by Mike Lindell. To see how it differed from mainstream platforms, I have created an account. However, since I rarely logged in, largely due to work and other obligations, my memory of this social network is a bit hazy. If I recall correctly, users were able to create accounts and use nicknames. Though the option to have a personalized URL was not available. Nevertheless, similar to YouTube and Vimeo, users could comment on videos and subscribe to video channels. Unlike other social networks in the same category, the options to follow other users, or create video channels were unavailable. Instead most of the content consisted of channels that were run by influencers who have been suspended on YouTube and Twitter. Currently, the platform has evolved and is now known as LindellTV. At the same time, social networking features were merged into VOCL. This shift marks another chapter in the ongoing transformation of alternative social media platforms in response to changes within the broader social media landscape.