Since Twitter's ownership changed last week, some users have left the platform to join rivals like...
Digital desk: Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, is criticizing the platform's rival, Mastodon, but some may say he's gone too far this time. In a now-deleted post, he lashed out at users complaining about Twitter's recent upgrades and asked them to join "masterbatedone" if they had a problem. Musk's sarcastic post about Mastodon came at a time when the latter's servers had been down for many users for hours. Since Twitter's ownership changed last week, some users have left the platform to join rivals like Koo and Mastodon.
What is Mastodon?
Mastodon is not a new platform, and it gained significant traction in India in 2019. Back then, after Twitter terminated senior Supreme Court attorney Sanjay Hegde's account, many people moved to Mastodon.
Mastodon has features comparable to Twitter, but it runs differently. Users of this open-source social networking platform can create their own "communities" or join pre-existing ones.
Instead of tweeting, Mastodon allows users to 'toot' their views.
Is Mastodon really affecting Twitter?
Despite these tactics, Twitter appears to be doing extremely well. According to an internal document obtained by The Verge, Twitter's daily user growth reached "all-time highs" during Musk's first week as CEO.
According to the report, Twitter's "monetizable daily user (mDAU) growth has increased to more than 20%, while its largest market, the US, is rising even faster." For reference, Twitter reported in its second quarter report that it had 237.8 million monthly active users.
However, Musk's toughest struggle does not end there, since many advertisers are fleeing even as the user base grows. They worry that during the US midterm elections, there may be a rise in false information on the platform and that their advertisements may be displayed next to false material.
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