The open-source and decentralized social network, Mastodon, has recently announced that it has significantly more users than previously reported. Due to a network connectivity error, Mastodon had been undercounting its users, resulting in an underestimation of its popularity. Founder and CEO Eugen Rochko revealed that the platform actually has 407,814 more monthly active users than initially reported. This adjustment also includes a gain of 2.34 million registered users across an additional 727 servers that were not counted due to the error.
Key Takeaway
Mastodon has discovered that it has 407,814 more monthly active users than previously reported due to a network connectivity error. This adjustment brings the platform’s total monthly users to 1.8 million, representing a 5% increase. Despite its smaller size compared to X, Mastodon and other social networks are hopeful that dissatisfaction with X’s recent changes may lead users to switch platforms.
Mastodon’s Metrics Error
The issue that impacted Mastodon’s user metrics was discovered on its statistics aggregator page, joinmastodon.org/servers, where users were undercounted between October 2 and October 8. However, Rochko assured users that the problem has now been resolved. As a result, Mastodon currently boasts a total of 1.8 million monthly active users, marking a 5% increase month-over-month. The platform has also experienced a significant growth of 12% in the number of servers, totaling 10,000.
This revelation showcases Mastodon’s upward swing in popularity at a time when other social networking giants, like X (formerly known as Twitter), are facing uncertainty. X has recently made a controversial decision to remove headlines from link previews on the platform, causing frustration among publishers who rely on traffic generated from the network. Despite these changes, Mastodon and other competitors see an opportunity to attract users who may be dissatisfied with X’s evolving nature.
An Challenging Road Ahead for Mastodon
Although the increase in users is a positive development for Mastodon, the platform still remains relatively small compared to X. X currently receives 500 million posts per day and has 245 million daily active users, despite a recent decline. Nevertheless, Mastodon and its competitors are optimistic about their potential to gain a larger share of X’s user base.
