Gab.ai: A Review

Have you heard of Gab.ai? If not, you haven't been paying close attention to the Twitterverse. Gab was started by a team headed up by Andrew Torba as a haven for free speech and free expression. Even though it was only started in September, it's already huge:

Unusually for a start-up that's less than three months old, it's made Wikpedia. As the above "gab" indicates, its huge growth is being driven by widespread frustration with Twitter 's Trust-and-Safety-Coucil censorship. It's a real sign of the times: when censorship enters the picture, lots of folks scatter!

Waiting List

If you go to Gab's home page you'll see a form for your Email address to get on the waiting list:

Since it's still formally in beta, you've got to wait for an invitation to get in. I signed up the day after the alt-right Twittercopalypse, and got something like #111,000 on the waiting list. But instead of waiting weeks, like I had feared, I only had to wait several days before I got this welcome Email:

Shortly after, I was Gabbing away.

Intuitive Interface

The deck inside is fairly minimal; the interface is intuitive:

The screenshot shows you what you'll see right after you sign up. Consistent with its mission in life, you're invited to "Share Freely..." when you've got something to say or post. The tabs are easy to figure out. You can categorize your posts in the categories that appear on the left underneath "Explore." Below is "Trending Hashtags." Although Gab is open to everyone, the trending tags show that a lot of its members identify with the alt-right (though many of them are "alt-Lite.")

Also supplied is a list of Who To Follow, like this one I got:

Yep; the big whale there is Alex Jones' Prison Planet. As the list says, Ann Coulter is there...

...but she hasn't posted anything as yet. Milo Yiannopoulous is also a member, but he's hardly used it. Contrariwise, both Ricky Vaughn and Vox Day are members - and post frequently.

As for posting, it's fairly simple. As with Steemit, you only have to drop a link to a Webpage, video, picture, etc. and it's automatically added. There's a video tutorial on Youtube:

which shows how straightforward it is.

Easy To Get Followers...

Maybe it's because of the alt-righty vibe, meaning that most new Gabbers already have an interest in common, but I found that it's easy to not only follow people but get them to follow you. Much easier than with Twitter!

Adding to this ease are at least two people - some may be staff - who act as a "Welcome Wagon." (One of them's named "Lord Bacon McPorkface"!) There's also a dedicated account, @ support , which hands out tips. You will need to follow @ support , but the welcomers in the wagon will find you. This feature of Gab makes the first day much better than at Twitter, especially if you're not naturally outgoing.

...And Very Addictive!

Maybe it's because of the commonality, but I found Gab to be quickly addictive. I've been gabbing for less than half a week, and I already feel like I'm an old hand. Link-dropping is very easy; I've dropped more than twenty-five already. As with Twitter, you can hit "reply" or "repost." But unlike Twitter, you can vote on each post by clicking the "Like" up-arrow or the "Dislike" down-arrow:

As you can see, someone other than me is posting Steemit links!

Conclusion

If you identify with the alt-right or with Donald Trump, you'll love the place! Other folks might find it less easy to fit in, but Gab's founder says that everyone is welcome. The interface comes with a useful "beep" feature when you get a Notification of someone liking or reposting one of your gabs; it also beeps when someone sends you a message. That makes it easier to do something else when your Gab tab is open.

The interface is a bit rickety, at least for Chrome; I often have to refresh the page to see the newest gabs & sometimes the beeper doesn't work. These lapses could be a "just me" issue, as I have an old desktop.

As with all social networks, it helps if you're already well-known. If you're not, you'll have to be active to build up a rep. But you can; it is do-able. Already, I've gotten into more than one convo with my fellow Gabbers.

There's already #Bitcoin and #cryptocurrency categories. They're not well-travelled as yet. But if enough of us join up, they will be!

Postscript for Techies

I asked Andrew Torba about an API, and he says there isn't one yet but it's a top priority. If you like to build on top of an API, it's still a green field!