Alternative, personality-driven social media sites have gained popularity in recent years, and a new study from Pew Research finds their participants behave differently than those on the more established sites.
Looking at data from 2022 on BitChute, Gab, Gettr, Parler, Rumble, Telegram, and Truth Social, Pew found that nearly a quarter (23%) of prominent accounts across all seven sites sought financial support from their followers (Parler shut down in April). And these sites' most prominent accounts are individuals, not corporations, per Pew's findings.
The types of financial transactions vary. About one in five accounts accept donations or subscriptions (19%), while others sell merchandise such as T-shirts and mugs (7%). While donations, subscriptions, and merchandise are far from uncommon on the web, Pew describes the levels of activity on these sites as "notable."
"Even as many Americans say they view these sites negatively, the small but largely satisfied share who regularly get news there provide financial support to these accounts," says Pew. "About one-third of US adults who regularly get news from at least one of the seven sites (36%) said they had donated to, paid for a subscription with, or bought merchandise from an account they follow."
The sites with accounts seeking the most monetary support from their followers activity are BitChute (60%) and Rumble (47%), both of which are primarily used to share videos. Pew notes that Rumble's rate is on a par with a 2020 study that found that 41% of popular YouTube news channels accepted donations.
The sites least likely to accept monetary support are Truth Social (2%) and Gettr (8%).
Pew also finds a correlation between accounts requesting financial support and those that are banned on other social media sites. "These accounts embraced audience fundraising at higher rates than accounts that had not faced these measures," Pew says. Thirty-eight percent of accounts that are banned elsewhere and active on these alternative sites sought monetary support from their followers, compared with 20% of accounts that are not banned elsewhere.
