Trump’s twitter-killer Truth Social has a problem. “Nobody ever goes there anymore — It’s too crowded.”
I am not here to bash Trump or Truth Social. Truth Social might be a bit more for me. It was something I wanted so badly that I joined the waitlist as soon as it launched in February 2022. However, the platform was so bloated with bugs and missing features that the social media space was so empty, and the user security so poor, I decided to delete my account.
“There’s just not a lot of there, it seems,” I wrote nearly the exact same thing one year ago today. You can find links from major names such as Dan Bongino on Truth. It doesn’t seem like there is enough user base to provide fun conversations.
Even though the user base is still small enough to be competitive a year later, it’s not even close. Truth’s most important metric, its active user base, is actually shrinking.
According to Similarweb stats, which were quoted in a Bloomberg report Wednesday, “Truth Social’s monthly desktop and web visits reached a peak of 11.5million visitors in August 2022, but have been steadily declining since then, falling down to just 5.7 million in February,”
Twitter, Truth Social’s rival and inspiration, saw 6.1 billion visits during the same period. It’s hard to imagine how people like me, who must have multiple Twitter tabs open in Tweetdeck 24/7/365 for work, would add up to that number. Journalists and opinion journalists don’t use Twitter as much as they do.
I write for a blog that generates more traffic than Truth’s social media platform and another that is closing in on it. A social media platform cannot thrive without a lot of bloggers.
As a result, Truth Social’s parent company “has trimmed staff while awaiting regulatory approval for a merger,” according to “two people with knowledge of the matter,” in that same Bloomberg story. Trump Media & Technology Group has “laid off bout half a dozen people,” including senior members like Chief Technology Officer William “BJ” Lawson. He’s the third person to hold the position in the company’s brief history.
Although it is fair to wonder if Trump’s Biden Administration is delaying approval, poor finances are not the problem.
Bloomberg sources claim that the company has enough money to continue operations at current spending levels until September. Although it would be tragic if Truth Social failed, it is not unheard of.
It is difficult to launch a social media platform that succeeds, especially in a highly competitive market. Facebook does one thing, Instagram does the other, and Twitter offers a third. Each platform is designed to provide a different type of service and connect users for different purposes. Each platform creates a network effect that is nearly impossible to penetrate.
Perhaps that’s why Truth Social is dying: It’s a cloned Twitter and not something original.
Today, my colleague informed me that Truth is “never going do any better than Gab and any other alternatives.” But the problem is that Big Tech doesn’t allow enough viewpoint diversity to ensure everyone feels included.
Athena explained to me that Twitter is a comfortable-cozy place where everyone feels cozy and secure. I must add, “Even with Elon Musk in control.” Musk acknowledged that Twitter’s source code contains censorship of opposing opinions (and even contrary facts).
Trump is a billionaire, but he can’t afford to fund a losing venture forever. Truth Social will not be a success despite its noble goal of providing users an escape from censorship.
Trump was the man who had enough vision and imagination to create a real estate empire, host and host the most popular reality series of all time and, finally, tweet his way to the Oval Office. However, that same vision and huge imagination were not enough to take on Twitter.
