Amid ongoing Reddit protests, decentralized link aggregation and discussion forum projects Lemmy and Kbin grow to a total of 70K+ MAUs and 1,000+ instances
https://privacy.thenexus.today/ ... Jeroen Baert / @jbaert@mastodon.social : Some excellent resources for the #RedditMigration: mapping of subreddits to their new home in the fediverse (On Lemmy or Kbin): — https://redditmigration.com/ https://sub.rehab/ https://www.quippd.com/... Adam Dalliance / @pre@boing.world : @atomicpoet @dansup Probably true though.The reddit thing has barely started really. They don't even turn off the old 3rd party apps until next month. Daniel Supernault / @dansup@mastodon.social : I think Lemmy will not only overtake PeerTube, but also Misskey, and Kbin will surge to 200k users within the next month. #threadiverse @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online : The next phase of the #ThreadiverseMigration is helping relocate and build #kbin and #Lemmy communities by mapping old subreddits to new communities. — yoasif @yoasif, who has been a #Reddit moderator on r/firefox, has taken up the challenge: — Unofficial Subreddit Migration List (#Lemmy, #Kbin) >>> … @threadcount@botsin.space : 222,397 Lemmy/kbin accounts — +23,441 in the last hour — 71,331 monthly active users @nexusofprivacy@mastodon.social : Eight days later: KBin, Lemmy, the landed gentry, and the rise of the “threadiverse” (DRAFT) — Feedback welcome!!!!! — https://privacy.thenexus.today/ ... #kbin #lemmy #threadiverse @fediversenews @RedditMigration @fediverse Twitter: @mahemoff : Timing is everything, especially when users revolt. Reddit was alive and well, scooped up the entire bolting Digg community. Mastodon had shocking onboarding and discovery, barely caught any Twitter users. Now we see the same with Reddit alternatives that don't even have native apps, ironically. With subreddits coming back online, they've missed their golden window. Forums: Hacker News : Eight days later: Kbin, Lemmy, the landed gentry, and the rise of “threadiverse”
Context & Ripple Effects
The reported growth gives the Reddit protests a measurable destination: users were not only objecting to Reddit, but establishing communities across many independently run Lemmy and Kbin instances. It fits the broader moment in which Reddit’s user backlash joined wider disruption across the social web.
The later coverage shows federation moving from a niche alternative architecture toward a product direction explored by major platforms, including Threads’ beta connection to federated services. That makes early migration infrastructure—community discovery, moderation, and instance choice—more consequential than a simple one-site substitute.
First-order effects
- Lemmy and Kbin gain a larger active-user base and more than 1,000 separate instances, while Reddit protest participants have additional places to relocate discussion communities.
- Migration lists and subreddit-to-community mappings become immediately useful coordination tools, reducing the friction of finding an equivalent forum outside Reddit.
Second-order effects
- Fragmentation across instances makes discovery, moderation norms, and community identity central competitive problems for Lemmy and Kbin rather than merely attracting sign-ups.
- Reddit faces a more credible outlet for dissatisfied communities, while centralized social platforms have added incentive to stress user control and interoperability—an approach later reflected in Threads features for connected fediverse accounts.
Third-order effects
- If communities can move their discussions and audiences between independently operated services, platform lock-in shifts from owning a single destination to providing better interoperability, governance, and discovery.
- The episode points to a more plural social-web structure, though sustained adoption depends on whether federated services can make fragmented communities as usable and manageable as centralized ones.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift from platform-dependent online communities toward federated services that offer more choice over where communities are hosted.