Failed, one-term former President Donald Trump thought he could compete with Twitter and Facebook, but he’s finding out that his foray in the social media field is also headed for failure.
Truth Social, which launched on President’s Day, has fewer that 80,000 followers, and Trump himself doesn’t even use the platform, continuing to issue “official statements” on Twitter via his spokesperson, Liz Harrington.
Axios notes that the rollout of Truth Social has been plagued with bugs and setbacks since its launch almost two weeks ago:
Truth Social spent much of February in private beta with invited users, saying its public unveil would be Feb. 21 (President’s Day, natch).
- The launch itself was buzzy, with Truth Social shooting to the top of Apple’s App Store (there isn’t yet an Android or web version).
- But the vast majority of people downloading the app, me included, were given a waitlist number. Nine days later, most of us remain on that waitlist, with our number unchanged and without a word of communication from the company. A waitlist “refresh” icon doesn’t work.
- As of this writing, Truth Social has fallen to No. 57 in the App Store, just behind Tinder and Planet Fitness Workouts.
And while Trump may be the official “face” of Truth Social, he certainly doesn’t act like it:
The former president is Truth Social’s founder and chairman, so he obviously bears some responsibility for putting together the team that’s so far fallen on its face. But, most importantly, he’s not using the app.
When he was still on Twitter, Trump had millions of followers, and the plan was to leverage his popularity and transfer it to the new site. But so far that hasn’t come to fruition:
The SPAC’s investment thesis seems to be that a large percentage of Trump’s 88 million Twitter followers will migrate over to Truth Social. But nearly two weeks after launch, his dormant account has fewer than 80,000 followers. And Trump himself is largely to blame.
As former GOP strategist Rick Wilson has noted, “Everything Trump touches dies.”
