The birth of social media was arguably in 2002, when Friendster was launched. A year later, MySpace arrived, and every Gen Xer, including me and many Millennials jumped on board.
Then came Facebook in 2004, which has been an ever-present force for over 20 years. And how about YouTube? It started in November 2005 and was sold just 11 months later to Google for $1.6 billion!
I know that today it’s worth a lot more. Current estimates put a value of $500 billion on YouTube. But making over a billion dollars in 11 months sounds like good money to me!
A year later, in 2006, Twitter appeared, followed by Instagram in 2010. On Instagram, we also see a big markup. 18 months later it was bought by Facebook for $1 billion. At the time, Instagram was a 13-person start-up.
It’s now a global leader in social media. Could it have succeeded without Mark Zuckerberg’s magic? We will never know.
Jump forward to 2025. Twitter has now become X after Elon Musk bought it in 2022 for $44 billion. And only last month, xAI, valued at $80 billion in the deal, bought X for $30 billion. This brings the whole issue of AI, data, and privacy into the equation, but I want to look at who the other players are in the social market first.
The competitors to X are Instagram, Facebook, GETTR, Truth Social, Parler, Minds, and Gab. But with censorship running rampant during the COVID tyranny, a number of platforms promoted themselves as free speech activists.
This removes Instagram and Facebook (both owned by Mark Zuckerberg, who has now suddenly converted to being a free speech activist…but only for US users). So let’s look at the main free speech players in chronological order.
Minds was the first of a raft of free speech-oriented social media platforms launched in 2015. Minds has been described as more privacy-focused than its competitors and is open source.
Some high-profile figures promoted Minds at its 2020 NYC “MINDS: Festival of Ideas”.
But Minds remains a niche player that has never really proved a mainstream alternative to the big players. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 470,000 visits per month.
Gab launched in August 2016 and then had a full public launch 9 months later. Gab has actively been building and supporting its own server infrastructure.
This is a smart move to protect from being shut down but has meant slower growth. In 2020, Gab migrated to its own in-house servers.
Gab has suffered from its minimal moderation, which has meant it is unable to have an app on the Apple or Google app stores. The most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 4.7 million visits per month.
Parler was launched in August 2018, billing itself as an unbiased and free speech alternative to larger social media platforms. Conservatives quickly praised Parler for offering a free speech alternative to Twitter and Facebook.
Parler’s user base grew massively in 2020 and became the most well-known Twitter alternative platform, but after it was accused of coordinating the January 6, it was removed from the Apple Store and Google Play Store.
And soon after, on 10th January, Amazon Web Services cancelled its hosting, and it went offline.
It restarted a month later after moving its domain hosting to Epik, and a year later, it was back on Google and Apple app stores.
Near the end of 2022, Kanye West agreed to buy Parler, but this fell through. At the time, George Farmer was the CEO.
George is the husband of Candace Owens,, and his father was the Treasurer of the UK’s Conservative Party and a life peer in the House of Lords. In April 2023, Parler was acquired by Starboard and temporarily shut down prior to a relaunch.
Eight months later, it was sold to another group and relaunched in February 2024. The most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 275,000 visits per month.
Next up is GETTR, which was launched on July 4, 2021, by President Donald Trump’s former senior advisor, Jason Miller. The most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 1.4 million visits per month.
And the newest kid on the block is Truth Social, launched by President Trump in October 2021.
President Trump had been banned from Twitter/X in January 2021, and, in true Trump fashion, he started his own social media company.
Within a year, it was available to download as an app from Apple and Google app stores. The most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 30 million visits per month.
So, what is the conclusion to understanding this avalanche of social media options? Gab often seems overwhelmed with anti-Jewish posts, and only US users can sign up for its paid pro option.
Minds seems to lack traction despite being around for a decade. Parler has been launched for the 3rd time, and so the jury is still out on its future success.
Truth has a large user base but has restrictions on streaming and other capabilities.
GETTR seems to have stood the test of time. It is available in app stores (unlike Gab).
It has great live streaming capabilities (unlike Truth Social) and has never gone down or changed hands (unlike Parler). And of course, GETTR has one of the most well-known MAGA advocates ever! Stephen K. Bannon.
WarRoom streams on GETTR, and SKB uses GETTR exclusively, so if you want to follow the MAGA architect, then GETTR is the place to be.
The post The Three Decade Story of Social Media in a Nutshell and What is the Best X Alternative appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.