Apps like Tumblr, Mastodon see meteoric rise amid shakeup at Twitter

NEW DELHI: Alternative social media platforms such as Tumblr and Mastodon have seen a meteoric rise in adding new users amid the shakeup at Twitter that has led to a bump in installs, spending and usage for its mobile app.

According to latest data provided by Season Tower, Twitter installs climbed 21 per cent, while alternatives like Mastodon grew 657 per cent in the 12 days — from October 27 through November 7 — after the Twitter acquisition was finalised.

Mastodon saw approximately 322,000 installs from US app stores in the 12 days, more than 100 times the 3,000 it saw in the prior period (October 15 through October 26).

Globally, the app grew 657 per cent to 1 million in the 12 days following the handover from 15,000 in the prior period.

“Third-party Mastodon apps such as Metatext and Tootle also saw a bump when comparing the two periods, climbing from less than 1,000 installs each to 19,000 and 7,000 worldwide downloads, respectively,” the report showed.

Tumblr saw more growth in the US than globally, where the app saw adoption climb 96 per cent to 92,000 from 47,000 when comparing the two periods.

Worldwide Tumblr installs, on the other hand, surged 77 per cent to 301,000 from 170,000.

Smaller alternative platforms such as CounterSocial also saw a bump in adoption. CounterSocial was No. 11 among the top social networking apps by growth during the week of October 31.

Globally, the app saw approximately 33,000 installs in that period, up 3,200 per cent when compared to the 12 days before.

Since the acquisition was finalised, Twitter’s mobile app has seen 7.6 million worldwide installs and $502,000 in consumer spending from across the App Store and Google Play in the 12 days.

Daily usage of Twitter’s mobile app also saw a slight uptick, climbing 2 per cent in the 12 days after the acquisition when compared to the prior period, said the report, something which new Twitter boss Elon Musk also posted.

“The upheaval of the last two weeks will likely continue in the short-term as Twitter rolls out features and policies at a rapid clip under its new leadership,” said Stephanie Chan, mobile insights strategist at Sensor Tower.

However, the long-term impact is yet to be determined.

“Time will tell whether the trends observed so far will persist or normalise, whether that’s the uptick in adoption and spending on the Twitter mobile app, or the surge in interest in alternatives such as Mastodon,” she added.