It’s the app everyone heard of after Elon Musk took over Twitter. Mastodon, the (almost) clone of Elon Musk’s social network has never been as popular as it is today. In November, after the takeover of its rival, the platform recorded a 600% increase in its traffic.
After the incredible finalization of the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, a wind of panic blew on the social network and its users. Many have called for a strategic fallback on Mastodon, an apparently similar application, although a bit more technical to handle. The many disastrous decisions of the billionaire in the days that followed prompted many Internet users to finally take an interest in this strange clone. From 70,000 users, they were then 650,000 to have joined the ranks of this platform until then almost unknown to the general public.
If today, the craze seems to have subsided somewhat, Mastodon is still considered the number one alternative in the event of the definitive death of Twitter. The numbers don’t lie. According to analysis by Similarweb, Mastodon’s traffic jumped 588.5% in the month of November 2022. The app grew from 1.4 million visitors in October to 9.5 million the following month.
The Mastodon Gold Rush is not yet the death of Twitter
Also according to Similarweb, a quarter of these new visits come from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. If France is not among the rankings, it is Twitter that led to this explosion in traffic. Indeed, 90% of the latter comes from the social network à l’oiseau. Another interesting point, most Internet users prefer to go to the web version of Mastodon. The application, it only attracted 11% of users.
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Are we witnessing the definitive replacement of Twitter by its clone? Not so fast. More than a month after the arrival of Elon Musk at the controls, it is clear that the platform is still standing, despite the problems that accumulate. “Twitter’s huge numbers mean that Mastodon is unlikely to become a serious competitor until it establishes itself in the mainstream social media space”analyzes the magazine Financial World.