Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter created a ripple effect that would have been quite difficult for anyone to predict. One of the side effects of the acquisition was that a number of users started to migrate from Twitter to other social media platforms, with Mastodon being one of the platforms that benefited in this manner.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Mastodon’s active user base had been stagnant at the sub 500k level for quite a while. After Elon Musk’s takeover, usership at Mastodon skyrocketed past the million user mark before peaking at 2.5 million at the start of December 2022.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, the social media platform has not been able to keep its momentum going. Active users on this decentralized form of social media have begun to decline, dipping to around the 1.4 million user mark by the start of February.
This seems to suggest that Mastodon has failed to capitalize on the influx of users. They needed to act quickly because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making sure that most of the users that would be coming over to the platform would decide to stay there, and they have clearly failed to measure up to the task.
One of the reasons why Mastodon failed to keep the momentum going might be its rather difficult user interface. The sign up process can be challenging for users to fully understand, and this can make them hesitant to get onboard on a long term basis.
This goes to show that a platform cannot simply rely on a competitor becoming unpopular. A tricky onboarding process can alienate users, and it can also make it unlikely that they’d be able to create a customized timeline that is full of the content that they prefer. It will be interesting to see if Mastodon’s usership continues to decline or if it can start to pick up the growth rate once again in the near future.
H/T: Wired
Read next: Can The Apple Watch Make People Lose Weight? Experts Have Their Say
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Mastodon’s active user base had been stagnant at the sub 500k level for quite a while. After Elon Musk’s takeover, usership at Mastodon skyrocketed past the million user mark before peaking at 2.5 million at the start of December 2022.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, the social media platform has not been able to keep its momentum going. Active users on this decentralized form of social media have begun to decline, dipping to around the 1.4 million user mark by the start of February.
This seems to suggest that Mastodon has failed to capitalize on the influx of users. They needed to act quickly because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making sure that most of the users that would be coming over to the platform would decide to stay there, and they have clearly failed to measure up to the task.
One of the reasons why Mastodon failed to keep the momentum going might be its rather difficult user interface. The sign up process can be challenging for users to fully understand, and this can make them hesitant to get onboard on a long term basis.
This goes to show that a platform cannot simply rely on a competitor becoming unpopular. A tricky onboarding process can alienate users, and it can also make it unlikely that they’d be able to create a customized timeline that is full of the content that they prefer. It will be interesting to see if Mastodon’s usership continues to decline or if it can start to pick up the growth rate once again in the near future.
H/T: Wired
Read next: Can The Apple Watch Make People Lose Weight? Experts Have Their Say
