When Elon Musk took over Twitter, Mastodon It reappeared as the alternative for those who wished to leave the little bird’s social network in dissatisfaction with the attitudes and decisions of the tycoon. The decentralized option had already appeared on the scene several times as an escape route for those who wanted to cut ties with the platform founded by Jack Dorsey, but the exodus never materialized.
Now the story is not much different. Many have threatened to go all-in on Mastodon, but not all have followed through. Despite this, the open source social network has experienced unbridled growth since the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX set foot in the Twitter offices in San Francisco, California.
This was confirmed by Eugen Rochko, founder, CEO and sole employee of the project. In an article published on the platform’s blog, the developer stated that Mastodon’s explosion in popularity is palpable. Is that the social network went from 300,000 to 2.5 million active users per month between last October and November. This means that the number of active profiles was multiplied by more than 8, nothing more and nothing less.
The creator of Mastodon also highlighted that many of those who have joined are journalists, organizations, writers and political figures. “Understanding that press freedom is absolutely essential to a functioning democracy, we are excited to see Mastodon grow and become a household name in newsrooms around the world. And we are committed to continuing to improve our software to meet the new challenges that come with rapid growth and increased demand,” he said.
Mastodon Gains Traction, But Still Away From Twitter’s Numbers
The case of Mastodon is, without a doubt, very remarkable. The platform was founded in 2016 to offer an alternative to Twitter that did not suffer from its corporate interference. Since then, it has remained a niche optiondespite the fact that his name has become more and more familiar over the years.
The ever deeper questions of Elon Musk and his ways of managing Twitter have led Mastodon to finally become a real option for those who seek to escape his whims. But, nobility obliges, beyond its impressive growth, Its figures are still very far from those of the Californian company.
A short time ago, the tycoon assured that Twitter was being used more than ever. He even shared some graphs showing an average greater than 255 million mDAU (monetizable daily active users) globally over a 7-day period. And while Elon Musk’s stats should be taken with a grain of salt, they expose numbers from another dimension compared to Mastodon’s.
Link blocking complaints
Twitter’s recent blocking of tweets with links to Mastodon has not gone unnoticed by the founder of the project either. Rochko was very critical of the decision of the company belonging to Elon Musk, which also locked decentralized platform profile. And if the user @joinmastodon has since been restored, the situation has left a dangerous precedent.
“This is a stark reminder that centralized platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and cannot say, while holding your social graph hostage,” he said.
The big question is if Mastodon will be able to retain the users who today fly from Twitter Looking for a less chaotic site. It remains to be seen if the open source option finally manages to make the leap and go mainstream, or if it will continue to be a niche alternative.