krisDec 1, 2022
Micah Lee

I just graphed Mastodon's MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS each day for the month of November.

At the end of October there were 496K active users, and at the end of November there are 2.6M -- that's 424% growth.

This is just ACTIVE users; there are millions more non-active accounts.

(For comparison, Twitter allegedly has 396.5M monthly active users, or about 152x the active userbase of Mastodon.)

Nov 30, 2022 at 11:40pmWeb
Show threadMicah LeeDec 1, 2022

I found a source of more granular Mastodon user data! This graph shows both TOTAL USERS and MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS over the last month.

Thanks, Python, matplotlib and this magical API endpoint https://api.joinmastodon.org/statistics

Show thread∿ und̷e̷l̷ě̷t̷e̷d̷Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee is this from a specific instance?
Show threadFrank CoteDec 1, 2022
@micahflee thanks Mastodon!
Show threadStefanNov 30, 2022
@micahflee great work! I've not seen any of the user count bots track the active number but they should!
Show threadGunChleocDec 1, 2022
@stefan @micahflee You can get stats for the whole Fediverse (not just Mastodon) on this site: https://the-federation.info/
The Federation - a statistics hub

Node list and statistics for The Federation and Fediverse

Show threadMizmarNov 30, 2022

@micahflee

Not being picky, out of interest.

396.5M monthly active users

In Masto, bots are tagged or well known sites like guppy.
Actually, how well are bots filtered on Twitter? Ignoring Musk's complaints.

Show threadD FauxNov 30, 2022
@micahflee perfect, so if it continues to grow at that growth rate it'll catch up with Twitter in 3 months! 😂
Show threadMullanaDec 2, 2022
@divergentiafaux @micahflee
I had to pull up the calculator app. It sounded so wrong! 😨
Exponential growth is fascinating.
Show threadD FauxDec 2, 2022
@mullana @micahflee I know, right?! 😊 The power of compound growth doesn't feel real sometimes
Show threadJohn HaydenNov 30, 2022
@micahflee following the big bang, the inflationary era
Show threadLaurentiu Nov 30, 2022
@micahflee the answer is simple. Mastodon is a bit tricky at sign-up process, and many people just abandoned registration when they seen is not just NEXT > NEXT > NEXT process like on the others. Because of this Mastodon have a better active user, a better engagement rate, better content. Just the people who really want a change and are looking for something better is finishing the registration process on mastodon.
Show threadJustMike🌈Dec 1, 2022

@laur @micahflee
It should also be said: Mastodon is healthier!
I had only been on the bird site for four months, but in my case I wasn't finding much healthy engagement.
Plenty of rage and all the stupid tweets to build followers. *coffee before or after morning sex?*

I treasure the feed AND real interactions on Mastodon. Thank you for being here.

Show threadIrRESISTibleDec 1, 2022
@Brotherdog31 @laur @micahflee
👍🏼👍🏼
Show threadRandahl FinkNov 30, 2022
@micahflee interesting! Thanks for creating this Micah. It is an impressive growth.
Show threadanniemo71Dec 1, 2022

@micahflee

Wow! That's super impressive!

Thank you 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿😁

Show threadPeter PrincipleDec 1, 2022

@micahflee

"Twitter allegedly has 396.5M monthly active users, or about 152x the active userbase of Mastodon."

Which means Elon has only just BEGUN to unlock Mastodon's growth potential!

Show threadKaren E. Lund 💙💛Dec 1, 2022
@jobsboils @micahflee Meaning he paid ~ $111 for each of us.
Show threadPeter PrincipleDec 1, 2022

@Karen5Lund @micahflee

He overpaid for me, then.

Show threadKaren E. Lund 💙💛Dec 1, 2022

@jobsboils @micahflee Ditto.

I might have been worth it several years ago. Not now.

Show threadPeter PrincipleDec 1, 2022

@Karen5Lund

It's not the years; it's the mileage.

Show threadP.K.SharpDec 1, 2022
@micahflee I reposted your graph and one of my friends says that you miscalcuated...it should be 424% growth. Anyway thanks for doing this.
Show threadToxteth O'GradyDec 1, 2022

@micahflee The growth is encouraging, but it's like looking at early voting patterns in Georgia. They are marveling that 300K a people a day are voting early in this special election, but compressing that into a five-day window means only 1.5 million people will vote early, overall, and that's not likely to influence the final result.

That said, Twitter's been out there for years, so the Mastodon growth curve looks nice, for an upstart.

Show threadgourdlockDec 1, 2022
@micahflee that's an incredibly flat curve over the last few days, seems odd.
Show threadDoug is riding the mastodon!Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee Q1. what does twitter's curve look like over the last couple of months? Q2. Do inactive users become active or do they generally stay inactive? Thanks!
Show threadChaosDec 1, 2022
@micahflee that last week has to be borked.
Show threadKatDec 1, 2022
@micahflee How do you enumerate the instances?
Show threadMaryann 🌻Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee thanks for the solid figures. I’m glad you said allegedly regarding twitter. I would need to see the new figures which have been validated, of active users since musks arrival. And also figures of deactivated and non user accounts, ie those that have stopped tweeting. We will see firmer figures on twitter’s decline in time. You can’t piss that many people off…and in a short time…and not have consequences.
Show threadKaren BoylanDec 1, 2022
@micahflee Thank you Elon Musk 😂.
Show threadAlonDec 1, 2022
@micahflee Wait, how come there's been a flat trend for a week?
Show threadMaxthedogDec 1, 2022
@micahflee give Elon time. I'm sure he'll burn the place down in no time.
Show threadBert LatamoreDec 1, 2022

@micahflee

Wow! And this is only a small fraction of what could be coming? We need a lot more instances.

Show threadFlatbush Gardener 🌈Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee ONLY 152x!
Show threadRayDec 1, 2022
@micahflee "Allegedly" being the watchword.
Show threadDr SmithDec 1, 2022

@micahflee

Thanks. Curious what December looks like.

Show threadXiuwenDec 1, 2022
@micahflee 2.6 million is tiny compared with the bird site. Or, a factor of 152x difference. Wow!
Show threadDaybed BabyDec 1, 2022
@micahflee but on Twitter, they’re mostly a-holes
Show threadEvan ProdromouDec 1, 2022
@micahflee so you're saying we'll catch up in 3-4 months then
Show threadJeff EnderwickDec 1, 2022
@micahflee but I bet there are fewer bots here :-)
Show threadNicolas PettiauxDec 1, 2022
@micahflee but who can prove Twitter values ? As it is proprietary software, they can easily falsifiate the numvers
Show threadNicolas PettiauxDec 1, 2022
@micahflee thanks
Show threadonebigllamaDec 1, 2022
@micahflee that means Musk paid $111 for my account primarily used to watch what journalists have to say about current events. How many $111 bills were spent on bots?
Show threadMaikel  🇪🇺Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee and in the case of twitter, 394 millions are just bots.
Show threadCoach Pāṇini ®Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee users who don’t click on ads or generally links elsewhere, so that’s not problematic at all
Show threadKlaus Alexander SeistrupDec 1, 2022
@micahflee

When you say that you “graphed Mastodon's monthly active users”, are you talking of #Mastodon servers only? All traffic from #Pleroma, #GoToSocial, #Pixelfed et cetera has been filtered out? If so, the total number of active users on the #fediverse using #ActivityPub must be much higher.

Show threadPeter ButlerDec 1, 2022
@micahflee Nearly 3 million active users is 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 .
Show threadheliumlakeDec 1, 2022
@micahflee I'm one of those included who came from Twitter. All I have to say is, from what I've observed so far, Mastodon is significantly less toxic, more community-oriented, and not under the control of a single entity or individual. This is how micro-blogging *should* be.
Show threadMikko AlasaarelaDec 1, 2022
@micahflee We need 10x the active users for Mastodon to start becoming truly relevant. Rapid innovation and evangelizing on other platforms will help the cause!
Show threadAntonio Santos 🇵🇹Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee @jeffjarvis Any scope on duplicate accounts across instances?
Show threadJohn S. Erickson 🙏Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee Well done! What code did you use for harvesting? #Rstats folks have been using rtoot https://github.com/schochastics/rtoot
GitHub - schochastics/rtoot: :mammoth: R package to interact with the mastodon API

:mammoth: R package to interact with the mastodon API - GitHub - schochastics/rtoot: :mammoth: R package to interact with the mastodon API

GitHub
Show threadDen Spier Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee an important question to ask: how to measure success? Twitter and Mastodon doesn’t share the same objectives.
Show threadSteve Boland (he/him)Dec 1, 2022
@micahflee where does one get stats on usage? Can it be seen by account or instance?
Show threadIAmPawsDec 1, 2022
@micahflee I like this Mastodon place. It feels like a comfy blanket and not an anxiety-inducing noise machine.
Show threadRobertDec 1, 2022
@micahflee Twitter has more active users
Show threadJ. Steven York RESISTSDec 2, 2022
@micahflee But approximately 39 million of those remaining on Twitsite are just crypto-bros looking for suckers.