Last week I had a quick look at GETTR, a new social media app that vows to protect free speech from ex-trump spokesperson Jason Miller (not Trump, as some have reported).
The app launched last Thursday and quickly rose to the top of the U.S. chart, peaking at #11 within 24 hours. It's since sunk to #91. A week in, we now have a better understanding of just how much demand there is for GETTR and where it's coming from.
Report: Move Aside Parler, GETTR's Here to Take Over. Twitter, Too?
Between the app's "official" release (7/1) and this Tuesday (7/6), GETTR was downloaded by more than 946K People via the App Store and Google Play globally, according to our estimates.
With the downloads also came headaches. The week was rough for GETTR. Lots of spam, scrapers, and a hacking attempt are making it harder for the company to focus on growth.
Will it stick? It's too early to tell. If you remember, my point last week was that if it's run as a business venture, the key to its success would be helping creators monetize. If it isn't, all bets are off, and Twitter is in for a ride, which likely means GETTR is too.
Some of you wrote back and shared different views, but I still stand by my analysis. For a simple reason—Even if GETTR is being bankrolled by someone with deep pockets who wants to make a political point, the app still operates in the same world as Twitter, and the things necessary to operate it (security, moderation, etc.) aren't cheap. At some point, the deep pockets will close, and GETTR will have to face the brutal nature of making money from a free service.
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
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