The decentralized microblogging platform Mastodon saw a record number of new signups on October 28, the day after Musk’s takeover.
Mastodon launched in March 2016. Like Twitter, it is a microblogging platform that allows users to post content, follow other users, retweet (toot), post media, and use hashtags. However, it is a decentralized (distributed) social media platform where users sign on individual nodes or servers. Each server has its own language, theme, rules and content moderation policies. The most popular server, mastodon.social has over 800,000 users.
On October 28, the hashtags #mastodon and #TwitterMigration were trending on Twitter. According to Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko, there were 18,000 new signups leading to Twitter’s sale.
On October 28 Mastodon said there were over 70,000 new signups.
Today, Rochko said “We’ve hit 1,028,362 monthly active users across the network today. 1,124 new Mastodon servers since Oct 27, and 489,003 new users.”
The number of app downloads has also increased substantially. According to data from Sensor Tower, the Mastodon app moved to its highest ever position, No. 21. Its previous record was No. 31 on April 26, after Musk announced his initial bid to buy Twitter.
The numbers could be higher because Mastodon has many third-party clients, including Mastoot, Toot, Metatext, Tootle, Mast, Tootsie, and Stella.
“Twitter user numbers have increased significantly around the world since the deal was announced,” Elon Musk has said. “And these are very early days. As Twitter becomes by far the most reliable source of truth, it will be indispensable.”
