Mastodon is ultimately not the replacement for Twitter that many were hoping for. As an article in the Guardianthe success of the decentralized microblogging platform is crumbling after successive waves of registrations due to the numerous controversies generated by Elon Musk, the new boss of Twitter.
Mastodon’s numbers are settling
After peaking at 2.5 million monthly users in December 2022, the social network’s numbers plummeted in early 2023 with 1.8 million active accounts. The data made available by the platform shows a slow erosion of active members since mid-December.
The success of Mastodon had in particular been favored by the repeated scandals linked to Elon Musk. Since the takeover of Twitter by the former richest man in the world, each controversial decision had allowed Mastodon to garner new users. The takeover itself had sparked a mass exodus, as had the mass layoffs within the company, the restoration of Donald Trump’s account and the suspension of that of certain journalists.
But since mid-December, Elon Musk has slowed the pace of controversy, even if new layoffs have taken place. At the same time, those registered on Mastodon did not necessarily stay, the fault of a less complete community than on Twitter and a slightly steeper learning curve.
Mastodon doesn’t need to be a Twitter bis
However, we are far from witnessing the end of the social network created by Eugen Rochko. Remember that Mastodon has been around since 2016 and didn’t need Twitter to continue on its merry way. Prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, it had 500,000 active accounts. Even if the decentralized social network attracts less attention than before, tripling its number of active accounts in a few months is a great success. In the media, Mastodon has also established itself as a viable alternative to Twitter by attracting public figures such as Thierry Breton, George Takei or director James Gunn.
Importantly, Mastodon doesn’t need to become Twitter. Its non-profit status does not require it to chase growth and revenue like Twitter. Eugen Rochko gave good proof of this recently by refusing numerous investment offers to keep this protective status. “We can’t be closed overnight, we can’t go bankrupt, we can’t drastically change course. That’s a huge difference between us and Twitter”he congratulated himself then.
The delirious growth experienced by Mastodon in recent weeks has positioned it as the obvious rival of Twitter while its culture is very different from that of Elon Musk’s site. The current downturn is therefore less of a failure than a return to normal for a site that does not want to deny itself and does not particularly seek to attract the same audience.