2 Months Later: GETTR Is Not the Winner

Despite a huge boost in interest after Robert Malone mentioned the platform on the Joe Rogan podcast, GETTR seems to be losing steam.

On January third, I wrote a piece called Is GETTR the Winner? In it, I talked about how landing Joe Rogan and other “controversial” voices on the platform could be a big moment for GETTR. Finally, I thought, a challenger to Twitter in the microblogging, feed-style social sphere. This is what I wrote at the time:

There are a lot of Twitter alternatives. Parler, Gab, Minds, Flote, Mastodon. With respect to Parler getting jobbed by Big Tech, none of them have really felt like a valid heir to Twitter's throne. Now we have GETTR. I don't know. It just feels different this time.

I was excited about GETTR in January. People who I enjoyed reading but who had been banned from Twitter seemed to see the Rogan development the same what that I did. I actually followed a specific user there. I’m not even kidding, this is the reason why I set up a GETTR account:

So GETTR... is it just another Parler or Flote? I don't know. But I signed up today. And the reason is because el gato malo joined. Cat memes, baby! It's what was so fun about the internet before it started to suck!

Funny thing, el gato malo barely even posts anymore. The bad kitty hasn’t dropped a post on GETTR since February 6th. Joe Rogan, who is really the reason why GETTR had its moment at the beginning of the year, hasn’t posted on GETTR since January 10th. I think what has been more bothersome though is that people who I enjoyed following on Twitter who created GETTR accounts, aren’t actually using GETTR. I followed a very small amount of people on GETTR. Roughly 25% of the accounts that I followed were created in early January and haven’t posted anything since. It’s like GETTR became their placeholder for when Twitter eventually kicks them off. I just don’t really find that course of action to be all that productive.

Look, I’ve been very clear from the jump that I think people should get rid of the mainstream social media platforms all together. Even before they started censoring COVID content and kicking people off, they were already very socially toxic. To be fair, I’m deeply aware that expecting everyone else to take the same course of action that I took is not realistic and pretty morally presumptuous, if I’m being totally honest.

But I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again; what is it going to take to get people who hate the censorship on these mainstream platforms to stop using them? This is what I said in a Substack comment on one of Berenson’s posts last night in reference to the old platforms:

They have to be destroyed. The government has a much more difficult time doing this draconian shit without their help. It’s time. Convenience is always up to a third party. Principles aren’t.

Facebook is lame AF. Twitter is beyond saving. Instagram, though owned by Facebook is probably the best of the three regarding de-platforming. But you’re still at the mercy of Zuckersquid and there are a whole bag of other issues that I have with Instaface.

At the end of the day, this is really just a rant. There are actually some really good follows on GETTR when you sift through all the noise. Edward Dowd, Tulsi Gabbard, Disclose.TV, AwakenWithJP, and Jeffrey Tucker are all feeds that I’ve really enjoyed following. But now two months in to GETTR, it’s very clear to me that it is not the heir to the Twitter throne. The people I used to follow on Twitter who came to GETTR aren’t actually using it. Disappointing, but I get it. The search interest in GETTR has not been able to sustain the spike from Rogan. People just don’t seem to care enough.

And this is without me even getting into some of the claims about who is backing GETTR, how the speech freedom policy is just marketing over substance, and how the company played very fast and loose with the follower numbers at the beginning of the year. Honestly, I’m starting to believe that there won’t actually be an heir to Twitter. Twitter will be the mainstream. And the blue bird will be host to big establishment lapdog groupthink sessions. GETTR and GAB will probably be the groupthink platform for the other side.

And then there’s Flote. Good old Flote. Does Flote sniff GETTR’s several million user base? No. Not even close actually. But Flote has a bunch of great content creators who are actually using the platform daily. Flote has an engaged leadership team that has clearly put its money where its mouth is regarding freedom of expression. You can find fire memes, commodities charts, and posts about self-sufficiency. What is Flote all about really? Whatever floats your boat. Check it out. I’m not ditching GETTR by any means, but I spend a very small amount of time on social media each day. Flote has and will continue to get the majority of that time. The last two months have proved that decision is an easy one to make.