X users were glued to the Musk vs Trump blowup
The blowup between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man has played out on social media in real time, the latest, perhaps ultimate example of how X has become Elon Musk’s personal platform, his own reality show where anyone can tune in to watch the mercurial twists and turns of his unpredictable personality.
And tune in they did.
The feud has birthed countless memes, hot takes and speculation, with some X users bringing out the popcorn emojis while rejoicing that the site has returned to its “fun” roots—back when it was called Twitter.
While it’s not yet clear if the feud will have any permanent effects on X’s audience size or advertising business, its owner reposted a meme late Thursday suggesting that, at least for now, it was good for getting active users to tune into the platform.
CEO Linda Yaccarino agreed.
“X operates as a personality-driven platform, and Musk’s high-profile conflicts can fuel engagement at least in the short term,” said Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute. “The platform has leaned into spectacle as a growth strategy, and controversy often drives traffic.”
Truth Social
President Donald Trump, of course, posted through the breakup on his own personal platform, Truth Social with three updates targeting Musk directly on Thursday.
But Truth Social’s audience is just a fraction of X’s, and social media experts at this stage don’t see it siphoning the former Twitter’s user base as a result of the feud.
Trump was banned from Twitter in 2021 following the Jan. 6 riots on the Capitol and he returned more than 2.5 years later after Musk reinstated his account.
On X, he has nearly 106 million followers—compared with less than 10 million on Truth Social, where he’s continued to post following the feud—at least 10 times on Friday.
But barring major user migration, X still dominates in political discourse.”
Trump hasn’t indicated that he’d leave X—and Musk hasn’t said he’d consider banning him—but the president has not posted on the site since June 3, although the official White House account has continued to send updates.
Analytics
According to Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower, X and Truth Social both saw mobile app usage skyrocket on Thursday as the Musk-Trump blowup played out on the two men’s respective social platforms.
US mobile app active users on X between 2 and 6 p.m. Eastern were up 54 percent, while Truth Social saw a fivefold increase.
Overall, Sensor Tower estimates that X’s audience is about 100 times larger than Truth Social’s.
On BlueSky, meanwhile, many users seemed to delight in watching the drama unfold on the platform they (mostly) left behind, posting screenshots from X, Truth Social as well as their own share of memes and commentary.
But the site, which has welcomed users disillusioned with Musk’s politics and policies on X, is unlikely to become a huge draw for Trump die-hards.
“It’s too early to measure any long-term shifts in user behavior, but political audiences on X have tended to be resilient, even in the face of controversy,” Kreps said.
