Pebble, a startup that unsuccessfully challenged Twitter, has made a surprising return, this time embracing the Mastodon platform. Last month, the company had announced the closure of its Twitter/X alternative, citing fierce competition, X’s user retention capabilities, and its own struggle to gain widespread appeal. Despite initially steering clear of the decentralized social network Mastodon during its startup phase, Pebble has now reemerged as a dedicated Mastodon server named pebble.social.
Initially, the nature of the new Pebble server was unclear—whether it was a community-led initiative to sustain the network or an official endeavor. Although the Pebble branding and tagline were evident, information about the origin of the Pebble instance was lacking.
TechCrunch has now confirmed that the Pebble instance was recently established by Pebble’s co-founder and CEO, Gabor Cselle, as a novel social experiment. While the Pebble community is involved in moderating the server, Cselle explained that the founders set up a subreddit and a Mastodon instance at the community’s request when Pebble shut down.
Cselle notes an interesting turn of events, stating, “And then something really interesting happened, which is after we started with Mastodon, a bunch of people came over.” Notably, a user named “Blobcat” played a role in revamping the Mastodon instance to resemble Pebble’s original appearance. This transformation, coupled with effective use of blocklists to filter unwanted content and trolls, led to Pebble.social attracting several hundred active users.
Cselle acknowledges the power of open source, emphasizing that the Mastodon experiment is a testament to this. After overseeing the restyling of the server and implementing blocklists for moderation, Cselle delegated moderation responsibilities to a team as he navigated the closure of the original pebble.is Delaware C-Corp.
Pebble had initially reached 20,000 registered users but saw a decline to around 1,000 daily users after rebranding from T2. T2, initially a placeholder name signifying its Twitter clone status, mimicked Twitter’s interface and features, prioritizing trust and safety. However, this approach failed to resonate with users, and Pebble chose not to integrate with Mastodon or other decentralized networks, citing challenges in maintaining trust and safety.
With Pebble.social now contributing users to Mastodon’s broader network, the focus is on experimenting with social and community dynamics in a federated space. Although there are no grand plans, the continuation of a social startup community after the company’s closure is a noteworthy occurrence.
Cselle concludes, “I think it’s good to see that the community finds value in this and that’s that we had a real community on Pebble.”
