Tracking Mastodon user numbers over time
Creators:
Willison, Simon
Publication Date:
2022
Data Category:
Dataset Description:
Mastodon is definitely having a moment. User growth is skyrocketing as more and more people migrate over from Twitter. I've set up a new git scraper to track the number of registered user accounts on known Mastodon instances over time. The dataset collects data from numerous Mastodon instances, providing a holistic view of user distribution across the network. This approach captures the decentralized nature of Mastodon, offering insights into individual server growth and overall network expansion. By recording user numbers at regular intervals, the dataset enables the analysis of growth patterns over time, identifying trends and significant adoption milestones. The dataset includes user counts from approximately 1,830 Mastodon instances, with data points collected approximately every 20 minutes. This frequency allows for detailed temporal analysis of user growth. Data collection began on November 20, 2022, and has continued since then, capturing the rapid growth of Mastodon following significant events such as changes in other social media platforms.
The dataset is structured with each record representing a snapshot of user numbers across various Mastodon instances at a specific timestamp. Key fields include:
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Instance Name: The domain name of the Mastodon instance.
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User Count: The number of registered users on the instance at the time of data collection.
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Timestamp: The date and time when the data was collected.
Variables:
Details: