As Heidi Klum used to famously say: “In fashion, one day you’re in and the next day you’re out.” So it also goes for social networks. The explosive growth enjoyed by both Parler and MeWe before and around the presidential election has fallen off sharply in its aftermath, according to a recent analysis by Apptopia.
The analysis looked at daily active users and downloads in the U.S. between October 25 and December 5. Adam Blacker, Apptopia’s vice president of insights and global alliances, tells Fast Company that engagement is also declining and he expects it will soon be where it was pre-election.
MeWe, which Fast Company dubbed one of the Most Innovative Companies in the social media arena this year, didn’t quite match Parler’s numbers, but it still did a brisk business in downloads pre-election. The promise of no ads, no targeting, and a privacy bill of rights catapulted the two-year-old startup to triple-digit growth early on. It’s now on par with Parler, hovering well below 10,000 downloads, according to Apptopia.