Mastodon's soaring user base has dipped

When Elon Musk's Twitter takeover first came into play, people began to seek alternatives to the bird app almost immediately. Among these options emerged Mastodon, a decentralized social media app. The open source platform quickly swelled in popularity, seeing an influx of users that included prominent journalists, politicians, and other public figures. For a while, it looked like Mastodon had a strong chance of dethroning Twitter, catering to its fleeing users.

Now, however, this dramatic rise may have stagnated. Mastodon's users have dropped significantly, according to a new report by Wired. By late January, Mastodon's active monthly users dropped to 1.4 million, a stark difference to its 2.5 million monthly users in December of last year.

Mastodon's drop in users could possibly be attributed to both the platform being touted as difficult to navigate for newcomers, and Twitter users choosing to stick around — reluctantly or not. Mastodon is "powered by a network of independent servers all around the world," as Mashable's Cecily Mauran reported in November. This means that the platform is self-governed and has multiple servers that are moderated by volunteers. This being Mastodon's main distinction may have resulted in Twitter users finding it tough to acclimate. Turns out, it's not much like Twitter at all, despite also being a microblogging site.

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Twitter, meanwhile, has experienced a host of problems since Musk took up leadership of the company. Just recently, the platform announced that it will kill off free API access, a move that may hinder the work of activists and academics. Other proposed and executed changes, including potential subscription models, have drawn criticism from long-existing users.

Nonetheless, the familiarity of Twitter may still be appealing to many. Mastodon's declining user base is illustrative — for now — that Twitter has retained some of its population.