Twitter Rate Caps Lead to Increased Popularity of Bluesky and Mastodon

Over the weekend, Twitter users were taken aback when Elon Musk, the company’s chairman and CTO, tweeted about the implementation of a temporary limit on the number of tweets users can see in a day. This decision was made in response to concerns regarding excessive data scraping and system manipulation. After some discussion, the limit was set at 10,000 tweets for verified users, 1,000 for unverified users, and 500 for unverified new accounts. However, many users found these numbers to be insufficient, as every tweet they scroll past contributes to the total count. Unsurprisingly, this move was met with widespread disapproval. Interestingly, the consequences of this decision were felt on competing platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon, which experienced a surge in user activity and website traffic throughout the weekend.

Bluesky reports “record high” traffic

Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform backed by Jack Dorsey, was one of the winners as Twitter users flocked to other platforms after reaching their limits. According to a CNBC report, the platform saw “record high” traffic over the weekend.

This was surprising as Bluesky is still in beta stage where users can only join the platform by invitation. The platform itself wasn’t ready to handle such a high volume of users, and by the end of Saturday it said it was experiencing “somewhat degraded performance due to record high traffic” and had to temporarily suspend registrations.

Registrations reopened late Sunday. The exact number of users using Bluesky during this period is unknown. However, in April it announced that it had crossed the 50,000 user mark.

Mastodon’s mailing activity tripled

Another popular destination for Twitter users looking for a new platform was Mastodon. The company’s founder and CEO, Eugen Rochko, published the weekend’s high numbers. He said: “So, weekend recap: Active users on Mastodon up by 294,000 and broadcast activity about tripled. Lots of new registrants, but also lots of returning users. Fun times”.

It is believed that the numbers were largely due to Twitter’s new rule, which forced users to find other platforms to connect with their friends and social circles.

The high user activity also came at a good time for the platform, when it released a new update to its Android app that gave it a “complete material redesign.” Explaining the platform’s new features, Rochko said in a post: “We’ve completely revamped the previously sparse settings section with dozens of new ways to customize your experience, as well as the ability to access connected server information. view its rules. You can hide boost/favorite counters, remind yourself to add alt text to media uploads, change the default broadcast language , hide all content warnings and more.

Twitter issues may increase as Instagram Threads gets a release date

Earlier today, reports revealed that Instagram’s new text-based social media platform could launch on July 6, based on its App Store listing. The platform may bring more problems for Twitter, as the competition for the best microblogging platform is likely to intensify. It will be interesting to see if Musk or Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino can turn the tide and regain the trust of the user base.