Right now the user count Lemmys is comparatively tiny when held up against reddit - but the user count isn't the thing that makes a social media site, it's the engagement
So even if you're used to lurking, try to get a little more active! Post memes, vote on posts, talk in the comments, whatever!
If people come here and see activity, content, and discussions, they're more likely to stay and contribute their own - if they come and see a ghost town, they'll just go back to reddit
I just wanted to say that I am impressed with the mentality here. Everyone seems so engaged (at least at first now) that Lemmy feels alive although we are relatively few people, still. That reminds me somewhat of the early stages of the internet, when everything was still new and you felt special for being part of something big blowing up. Keep it up and try not to create redundant communities on every instance!
I think it's kinda impossible to not create redundant communities. For example, people might not know about !technology@beehaw.org for example, and therefor create one at their local instance.
But I think that in a few months, you will see that certain communities at certain instances will be the "defacto" in a particular field.
Completely agree with you there! But at the moment, federation is happening but a lot of the server's are smoking quite a bit. So search might not be as reliable as intended.