What Are Monthly Active Users (MAU)?
Monthly Active Users (MAU) is a crucial key performance indicator (KPI) that social networking and other online companies use to measure the number of unique users visiting their sites within the past month. This metric is typically tracked using unique identifiers like IDs, email addresses, or usernames.
MAU isn’t just a count of visits—it’s a significant marker of an online business’s overall health and a foundation for calculating other vital metrics. It also provides insight into the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the experiences of both current and potential customers. Investors closely watch MAU reports, especially in the social media sector, as significant shifts can influence stock prices.
Key Takeaways
- Definition: Monthly Active Users (MAU) represents the number of unique users visiting a platform over a month.
- Performance Metric: It’s a vital benchpost to determine a site’s performance, growth, and popularity.
- Differing Calculations: Different companies may use varied parameters for calculating MAU, leading to inconsistent comparisons.
- Lack of Standardization: There are no universal industry standards for what constitutes a “user” or “active” user.
The Use and Challenges of MAU
The MAU metric can vary significantly across companies, owing to the absence of standardized definitions for “user” and “active.” Critics argue this lack of uniformity can lead to unfair comparisons among competitors. Some experts contend that MAU should always be used alongside other metrics for a comprehensive analysis.
For instance:
- Meta (formerly Facebook) counts an MAU as a registered user who’s logged in and interacted via its website, mobile device, or Messenger app within 30 days.
- X (formerly Twitter), prior to its acquisition and renaming, used to track “monetizable daily active usage or users” (mDAU), defining an mDAU as authenticated users who accessed the platform capable of showing ads on any given day.
These differences raise a critical question—when engagement variables differ significantly, are the MAU metrics reliable for comparing companies like Meta and Twitter?
The Limits of MAU
Without uniform standards, the components of MAU can vary drastically, creating challenges in measuring true user trends. For example, Meta has refined its MAU criteria multiple times, addressing issues such as non-active sharers and multiple account users across different platforms under its ownership (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp). As the social media landscape becomes more centralized, defining and maintaining accurate usage metrics becomes increasingly complex.
What is Considered an Active User?
An active user is one who uses a service or product during a specific time frame. Each business can define “active” per its parameters until universal standards are set.
How to Calculate Monthly Active Users
MAU is calculated by averaging the unique users each month over a year, providing a straightforward measure for businesses to report user engagement.
Understanding DAU and MAU
While MAU measures monthly engagement, Daily Active Users (DAU) tracks the daily engagement. Both metrics are crucial for understanding how frequently users interact with a service or product.
Conclusion
Though Monthly Active Users (MAU) is a foundational metric for gauging user engagement, its relevance varies with an organization’s size and the industry’s centralization. While larger platforms like Meta have shifted to more comprehensive metrics, MAU remains an indispensable tool for smaller businesses and websites looking to measure engagement and growth.
Related Terms: Daily Active Users, DAU, user engagement metrics, website performance, business KPIs.
References
- Meta. “Form 10-K”, Page 56-57.
- X. “Form 10-K”, Page 7.
- Meta. “2015 Annual Report”, Page 14 and 35.
- Meta. “Form 10-K”, Page 4.
