Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Director of Media Affairs for GETTR, Sonny Joy Nelson, to the newsmaker line to talk about the growing membership and the goals of the social media platform.
Leahy: Now on our newsmaker line, we’re joined by Sonny Joy Nelson, Director of Media Affairs for the new social media outlet GETTR. That’s G-E-T-T-R. Good morning, Sonny.
Nelson: Good morning, Michael. Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be with you.
Leahy: GETTR on the web at GETTR – The Marketplace of Ideas. We’ve got a GETTR account. Jason Miller was one of the founders of GETTR. His idea was to set this up as sort of a safe harbor for conservatives. Am I right?
Nelson: Jason Miller really is just the driving point behind this. We set up GETTR. We actually launched July 4, 2021, so just a few months ago. And it really stems from the idea that Big Tech really just has way too much power.
They have the power to determine what you can and can’t talk about. And after Twitter, as we all know, removed the sitting President of the United States.
After that happened, we all were like, okay, something has to be done here. This can’t just be something that we deal with. They always say, well, if you don’t like it, make your own platform. That’s what we did. And we’ve had a huge success with that.
Leahy: Let’s talk a little bit about that. And again, if you’re tired of Twitter, if you’re tired of Facebook, if you want to get on and you are tired of YouTube, you go to www.gettr.com. Now let me just ask you this. I’m going to throw a fastball right down the middle of the plate for you. You ready?
Nelson: Okay, I’m ready.
Leahy: Everybody has been trying to get an alternative to Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, and I think there’s a desire to have a successful social media outlet. But let’s face it, Parler just never happened as an alternative to Twitter.
I’ve seen good reports about gettr.com, but I don’t know really how well it is doing. What’s the reality? How big is gettr.com right now? How easy is it to use and where is it headed in the future?
Nelson: Absolutely. So GETTR is the fastest growing social media platform in history. We had over a million sign-ups just 24 hours after we launched. And that’s unheard of. I believe it took Facebook 10 months to get a million users. Twitter, it took 24 months.
We had just an explosion of users. At GETTR, we are really looking forward to the future we have. What makes us different from Twitter is that, one, we don’t censor political speech. We believe that you have the right to come on and talk about your political ideologies as you see fit.
And we’re not going to censor or ban you for that. But some of our unique features that set us apart are livestreaming. Twitter used to have a version of livestreaming that you could use through Periscope, but they don’t have that anymore. And we have livestreaming, and it’s great. It’s one of my favorite features that we have.
I love to use it. We also have our short video version feature that we’re coming out with soon. It’s in beta testing right now. It’s going to be our competitor to Instagram Reels and TikTok. I love messing around with that. And hopefully we’re going to be having that rolling out here soon in the future.
Leahy: Roger Simon, one of our all-star panelists, has a question for you.
Simon: I am also on GETTR, and I also was deducted 20,000 followers one morning by Twitter. So I’m not very pro-Twitter. In fact, I’ve written a number of articles advocating for all conservatives to get off Twitter. No one listened to me.
Leahy: People listen to you, Roger.
Nelson: I’ll listen.
Leahy: Thank you, Sonny.
Simon: A few people do. But listen, Sonny, I’m going to be a little bit harsh here. I’m one of those people who at one point, I had close to 100,000 followers on Twitter. I don’t like social media.
I think it’s been dangerous for the country rather than positive. I know Jason Miller. Frankly, he’s a nice guy and he’s a smart guy, but I’m a little worried about social media in general. I’d like you to speak to that. I’m not sure it’s a positive influence on our culture.
Nelson: That’s a valid concern, and I think we’ve seen that. But one reason I think that people are developing that concern about social media is how toxic it has been in the past, with Facebook and Instagram and Twitter deciding that they are the arbiters of truth and they can decide what you can and cannot say.
So at GETTR, we really strive to be a place, a family-friendly environment where you can come, you can post your political ideology, your ideas on there, and we can just have a conversation about that.
But also, too, we want to move not just from the political realm, but into sports and entertainment. Anything that you feel like talking about. I know for myself, I love using GETTR to interact with people, sharing encouraging Bible verses. That’s one of my favorite things to do.
Leahy: So Sonny, let me ask you this on that. First, who owns Getter? Who’s the ownership?
Nelson: Yes. So GETTR itself, we have a board, and we have financial investors globally.
Leahy: Okay, but who are they?
Nelson: (Chuckles) I don’t have that off the top of my head.
Leahy: You’re the director of media.
Nelson: I know.
Leahy: We should know who owns GETTR, don’t you think? We’ll find that out? You know who it is.
Simon: We know who owns The New York Times.
Leahy: You could share that with us, right? Can’t you? You know who it is.
Nelson: I wish I could. I actually don’t have it off the top of my head.
Leahy: The next time you come on, you’ll be able to tell us that.
Listen to the full interview here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Sonny Joy Nelson” by Sonny Joy Nelson.Â
