Many criticasters jokingly compare the current rise of "Mastodon" with "next year will be the year of Linux".

But here's the thing: every year that a few people have success by using Linux is "the year of Linux".

Every person who can communicate with other people on mastodon is a clear win. Is success. Nothing more is needed.

The goal of such systems isn't to be "the biggest" or "grow 10% every year".
The goal is to offer value to people. Any amount of people.