In a significant milestone, Mastodon, the decentralized social network, has reached an astonishing 1 million active monthly users. This achievement was announced by Eugen Rochko, CEO and lead developer of Mastodon, in a recent post.
A Steep Upward Trajectory
Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Mastodon has experienced rapid growth, with nearly half a million new users joining the network since October 27. While still dwarfed by Twitter’s massive user base of 238 million daily active users, Mastodon’s growth is undeniable. The network’s user registrations have skyrocketed from 60-80 per hour prior to Musk’s takeover to thousands of registrations per hour today.
Twitter’s Controversial New Ownership
The drastic changes at Twitter have undoubtedly contributed to Mastodon’s success. Some users claim they switched to Mastodon due to concerns over the future direction of Twitter under Musk’s control, while others joined as a form of protest against Twitter’s new paid verification scheme and Musk’s heavy-handed approach to moderating satire.
Mastodon: A Decentralized Alternative
Mastodon offers an experience comparable to Twitter, with features like hashtags, replies, bookmarking, and retweet-like "boosting." However, unlike Twitter, Mastodon is ad-free and distributed across thousands of servers organized around interests and geographic regions. These servers are run largely by volunteers who join their individual systems together in a federation.
Server Governance
Once users sign up and choose a server via the web or a mobile client, they can swap posts and links with others on their own server as well as users on other servers across the network. Each server has the power to limit or filter out undesirable types of content, such as harassment and gratuitous violence. Users on any server can block and report others to administrators.
Decentralized Design
Mastodon’s decentralized design has several benefits. It eliminates the need for a central entity to govern the network, making it impossible for a single entity like Elon Musk to acquire or control the network. Additionally, this design reduces the cost of overhead and ensures that no one server owner can impose their will or shut down the network.
Rochko’s Modest Operation
At 25 years old, Eugen Rochko is the project’s only full-time employee. He programs from his home in Germany on a modest €2,400 ($2,394.96) monthly salary. Despite the rapid growth of Mastodon, Rochko has been working long hours to keep up with the demand, purchasing more powerful hardware to upgrade the network’s database server.
The Future of Social Media
Mastodon’s success raises questions about the future of social media and the role of decentralized networks in shaping online discourse. As the world becomes increasingly aware of the benefits of decentralized systems, Mastodon may emerge as a viable alternative to traditional social media platforms like Twitter.
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