(Photo
by
Win
McNamee/Getty
Images)
Social
media
companies
have
only
ever
been
able
to
successfully
monetize
their
operations
in
one
way:
addicting
large
numbers
of
us
to
their
platforms
so
that
they
can
stick
as
many
advertisements
as
possible
in
front
of
our
eyeballs.
That
old
reliable
model
was
never
going
to
work
for
Donald
Trump’s
Truth
Social
platform.
Because
Truth
Social
does
not
report
numbers
about
its
own
user
base,
it
is
difficult
to
estimate
exactly
how
many
people
log
on
to
be
among
fellow
right
wing
social
media
users.
That
being
said,
one
third-party
digital
intelligence
company
put
the
high
point
for
active
daily
users
on
Truth
Social
in
2024
at
124,852
in
late
March,
coinciding
with
the
hype
over
Truth
Social’s
parent
company
Trump
Media
&
Technology
Group
going
public.
Although
it
was
a
high
for
2024,
this
was
nonetheless
a
decline
from
the
all-time
highs
for
Truth
Social
visits
reached
in
2022,
and
user
interest
has
continued
to
drop
off
since
the
company
went
public.
To
give
you
an
idea
of
how
that
stacks
up
compared
to
other
social
media
companies,
as
of
early
2024
TikTok
had
more
than
400
times
as
many
active
users
as
Truth
Social.
Facebook
had
about
600
times
as
many
active
users.
Given
that
anemic
user
base,
it
is
no
surprise
that
Truth
Social
has
reported
staggering
losses.
Truth
Social’s
parent
company
bled
$328
million
on
revenues
of
approximately
$771,000
during
the
first
quarter
of
this
year.
Trump
Media
&
Technology
Group
did
better
in
the
second
quarter,
but
still
lost
$16.4
million
with
only
$837,000
in
revenue.
The
fate
of
Truth
Social
seems
to
be
tied
to
Trump’s
prospects
of
regaining
the
presidency.
Though
the
overall
momentum
of
the
DJT
stock
has
been
decidedly
in
a
downward
direction,
there
have
been
notable
upticks
in
the
share
price
following
events
perceived
as
being
good
for
Trump’s
prospects
in
November.
This
includes
(for
some
reason)
the
two
assassination
attempts:
DJT
shares
shot
up
by
50%
immediately
after
the
Pennsylvania
shooting,
finishing
the
trading
day
up
by
31%,
while
shares
reacted
in
a
more
muted
fashion
(climbing
5%
in
premarket
trading
before
swiftly
falling
back
down)
to
the
latest
“assassin-hiding-in-the-bushes-at-the-golf-course”
plot.
It
is
not
totally
clear
why
DJT
traders
think
that
multiple
people
wanting
to
kill
Trump
is
a
good
thing
for
him
politically,
or
why
Trump
winning
the
presidency
would
help
Truth
Social
become
profitable
(when
he
was
president,
Trump
routinely
propped
up
his
hotel
business
by
deciding
to
visit
his
own
properties
at
taxpayer
expense
with
a
huge
retinue
of
Secret
Service
agents
and
hangers
on,
but
that
won’t
work
with
a
digital
space
like
Truth
Social).
Now
DJT
stock
is
on
the
eve
of
perhaps
the
most
significant
event
in
its
short,
tumultuous
life
as
a
publicly
traded
security.
In
return
for
agreeing
to
give
Truth
Social
a
first
crack
at
certain
topic-defined
aspects
of
his
rambling
internet
word-ejaculate,
and
not
much
else,
Trump
was
given
a
57%
stake
in
Trump
Media.
Initially
restricted,
Trump
can
now
start
selling
his
personal
shares.
Trump
Media
stock
was
down
6.6%
on
Tuesday,
September
17,
closing
the
trading
day
near
an
all-time
low
at
$16.14
per
share
as
Trump’s
selling
restriction
was
about
to
expire.
That
left
Trump
with
stock
worth
about
$1.8
billion.
With
Trump
and
other
insiders
now
able
to
sell,
as
of
the
end
of
trading
on
September
23,
the
DJT
stock
price
had
fallen
to
$12.15,
eroding
the
value
of
Trump’s
shares
by
nearly
a
quarter
in
less
than
a
week.
Two
weeks
ago,
Trump
said
that
he
had
“absolutely
no
intention
of
selling”
his
114,750,000
shares
—
but
that
is
what
he
would
say,
given
that
the
price
leaped
by
double
digits
as
soon
as
he
said
it.
The
guy
is
not
exactly
known
as
a
beacon
of
honesty.
Two
things
are
about
as
near
to
certain
as
you
can
get
in
the
world
of
finance.
First,
if
Trump
sells
all
or
a
substantial
portions
of
his
shares,
that
will
almost
instantly
send
the
DJT
stock
price
plummeting
further,
resulting
in
a
huge
windfall
for
Trump
and
leaving
his
most
ardent
supporters
holding
the
bag.
Second,
if
Trump
loses
the
election
in
November,
Trump
Media
shares
will
shortly
thereafter
become
virtually
worthless
both
for
Trump
and
for
anyone
else
who
is
unfortunate
enough
to
still
own
them.
Trump
already
has
a
lot
riding
on
the
2024
election,
like
the
outcome
of
his
dozens
of
felony
convictions
and
the
disposition
of
dozens
more
criminal
charges
against
him.
He’ll
be
OK
one
way
or
another
if
he
wins.
But
banking
at
least
a
billion
now
would
be
one
hell
of
a
hedge
against
the
possibility
that
he
loses.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD
(affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].