“I am back!”
With these words, a new chapter begins in the turbulent saga about Donald Trump (75) and social media: the former president, who was banned from Twitter after his supporters stormed the Capitol, said Thursday evening He made his first direct posting since January 2021. ,
Trump returned to his own startup, Truth Social. And amid debate over whether future Twitter boss Elon Musk (50) will allow Republicans to return to the world’s most influential discussion forum.
“I’m back #COVFEFE,” Trump posted. He wanted to show humor with it: because with “coffee” he repeats the mysterious word formation he left at midnight in 2017 as the end point of a new media scolding. And to this day no one knows what he meant by this: did he make a typo outright or hit the send button too soon?
The historic greeting – which marks the end of his mandatory pause in “social media” for more than a year – was adorned with a photo: Trump perfectly manicured in front of his luxury resort Mar-a-Lago (Florida) standing on the lawn. ) and is typing quite artificially in a suit and tie on a smartphone.
“Truth Social” Against Twitter Remains Small
Trump’s “truth” Internet channel got off to a rocky start, with technical problems particularly frustrating users. The service remains “David” compared to Twitter’s “Goliath”.
You can clearly see it in the numbers: 16 hours after it was posted, Trump’s return message has been liked 291,000 times and forwarded 95,000 times. These are not bad values for a platform that has just been installed. But the discrepancy in reach versus Twitter is also clear: Trump had more than 88.7 million “followers” on his @realdonaldtrump account at the time of his sacking. His most shared tweet – when he announced his COVID-19 infection in 2020 – was shared 1.2 million times with other users in eight hours.
Total number in comparison:
According to data website Sensor Tower, “Truth Social” has been downloaded 1.4 million times since its launch in February.
Twitter, founded in 2006, currently has 22.9 million subscribers who use the service every day.
At least a glimmer of hope for the “truth”: With current downloads in the Apple Store, the service ranks first for social media apps, ahead of Twitter and TikTok.
Amid the debate about a possible end to the ban on Twitter following Musk’s acquisition of the company, Trump has so far shown loyalty to his own platform: “I’m not going back to Twitter, I’m living with the truth.” I am,” he recently told Fox News, when asked about Musk lifting a possible Twitter ban.
Despite the current rebuke, he also rose to the new Twitter boss: Musk would “improve”, he was “a good man”, Trump said.
“Truth Social” Wants To Be Public
It’s also clear that the former president is initially concerned with money: because “Truth Social” aims to create an IPO through a special purpose vehicle. Revenues of $3.5 billion (3.3 billion euros) are expected.
But it is also expected that if Trump is serious about his ambitions for the Oval Office again in 2024, a presence on Twitter – should Musk eventually allow it – will be necessary.
“Twitter is extremely important to the Trump brand and his movement,” political scientist Jonathan Kristol told BILD: “I believe he wants to return to Twitter at the earliest possible opportunity, no matter what he is saying right now. “
Musk calls ‘Truth Social’ a ‘terrible name’
Musk, on the other hand, couldn’t resist a future blasphemy contest: “Truth Social” is a “terrible name” posted by the world’s richest man. It should have been called “trumpet”, “trumpet” in English, but of course a clear blow on the former supreme commander. And Musk acknowledged: “Truth” only exists because Twitter has so far censored free speech.
It almost sounds like an invitation for Trump to return to Twitter…
