It’s no secret that GETTR founder Jason Miller had hoped his former boss would use his free speech, anti-Big Tech alternative to Twitter instead of starting his own platform.
But so far, despite former President Donald Trump’s planned launch of “Truth Social,” Miller’s GETTR hasn’t missed a step and actually saw free sign-ups soar 135% after Trump’s announcement in October, according to a report provided by SensorTower — an authoritative source of app metrics.
In an interview, Miller, a former 2016 Trump campaign and White House aide, said that when Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook over election fraud and other claims, many supporters gave up social media.
But since Trump’s announcement, and the surprising Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections suggesting the GOP is back, these voters are interested in politics again. “They’re wanting to get active again on social media, and we’re the only game in town,” he said.
Miller said GETTR counts 3 million members and 400,000 daily users, so it has a while to go before catching up to Twitter. It is also exploding in foreign markets, including Brazil and France, where politics is raging and in other countries where voters are heading to the polls.
“This is the time of great political turbulence, which is good business for social media,” said Miller.
And with all that’s happening so quickly for GETTR, Twitter could be taking notice.
Twitter, for example, recently announced plans to offer more services, such as video streaming, for a fee. Miller said he plans the same — but for free.
As for Trump joining, it continues to be a goal for Miller. “I talked to President Trump a couple days ago, and I told him that I hope he does really well, but just not too well,” Miller said. “He kind of chuckled at that.”
But with his growth on a fast pace, Miller told the president, “There is room for everybody.”
