Mastodon, a decentralized social network, is experiencing a significant increase in adoption following the exodus of users from X (formerly Twitter). According to founder Eugen Rochko, the platform has seen a 47% surge in downloads on iOS and its monthly active users have grown to 894,000 across all Mastodon servers.
Mastodon’s Growth in Numbers
In a post on Mastodon, Rochko noted that official app downloads were growing. In addition to the 47% increase on iOS, they had increased by a smaller 17% on Android. Month over month, sign-ups were also up by 27% with 90,000 newly registered accounts in November.
Crowdfunding vs Venture Capital
Rochko subtly jabbed at one of Bluesky’s potential weaknesses, stating that Mastodon is "largely crowdfunded and grant-supported." This implies that the platform does not rely on venture capital to survive. In contrast, Bluesky has raised $15 million in Series A funding from investors, including Blockchain Capital.
Bluesky’s Business Model
While Bluesky plans to generate revenue through subscriptions at some later point and by providing other paid services, like access to custom domains, Rochko noted that this business model may not be appealing to all users. For some former X users now choosing Mastodon, the obligation to chase venture-sized returns is a non-starter.
Comparison with Bluesky
Despite Mastodon’s recent growth, its latest activity still falls below late 2022 levels when it had surpassed 1 million monthly active users and was seeing "thousands" of registrations per hour. Today, Mastodon has north of 7.6 million total users compared to Bluesky’s 19.4 million.
The Fediverse: A Long-Term Strategy
Rochko emphasizes that the fediverse (or the open social web powered by the ActivityPub protocol) is the "long game." This decentralized network includes newer efforts like Meta’s Threads, which has 275 million+ users. However, these users are not counted among the 10.9+ million broader fediverse users because the platform isn’t fully federated yet.
Mastodon’s History and Future
Rochko reflected on Mastodon’s history, stating that it took him 25% of his life to work on the platform. He noted that when he started, Google+ was still around, but they’ve managed to achieve what one of the most resourceful companies in the world couldn’t do.
A Sustainable Model
Rochko emphasized that the fediverse is a sustainable model for social networking, stating that it’s not easy to build a platform from scratch. He compared Threads’ plan to be ad-supported with Mastodon’s approach: "But the fediverse is the long game."
Conclusion
Mastodon’s growth in adoption may seem modest compared to Bluesky’s rapid rise, but Rochko emphasizes that the decentralized social network has proven itself to be an effective and reliable communications platform over the course of eight years. As users continue to seek alternatives to traditional social media platforms, Mastodon’s commitment to a sustainable model may prove to be a winning strategy in the long term.
