The Fediverse is huge and overwhelming to a newcomer, with many different types and each with servers to pick from. Which ones would you suggest checking out or avoiding?
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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I figured joining the biggest one would be the most exciting and active. I believe federation happens when a user on one instance follows another, so joining a smaller one might mean you miss some content. I could be wrong though.
Problem with lemmy.world is that because it's got so open registration, some instances block it entirely. Though it's a good place to start and know what to expect. Because Lemmy is pretty slow, I personally prefer to browse All - New and just block all Communities (and instances) that I don't want to see. I subscribe too of course for those times I just want to see the content I'm actually interested in but for casual browsing, browse by all.
It basically works like that on Mastodon, but on Lemmy, etc. you will see most of the content of all federated instances.
It's common for new users to overthink the choice of instance - it doesn't make a huge difference for most users and you can always switch if you find a better fit in the future.
You can pick one that is local to your country/region, or if you have a special interest like art or environmental activism, you may be able to find one that specializes in that. Otherwise choose any instance that is stable.
There are tools nowadays that share communities around to smaller instances through bot accounts that auto subscribe.
https://lemmy-federate.com/
It also makes it easier when you create a community, now it will automatically show up on most instances.
You're only missing content if your instance defederates from another and vice versa or if you block instances yourself.
It might be a bit easier to find new communities at first by scrolling through the local feed on a bigger community, but you can also do this without making an account there.
I think stability and speed of an instance are better selection criteria since they effect your experience much more. Piefed instances tend to offer a smooth and fast experience. E.g. piefed.social, piefed.zip, and the others mentioned in one of the other comments.
You're missing content from communities that no one on your instance follows yet.
That's good to know!
Yep, but piefed and lemmy both have tools to propogate communities to small instances so that they can be discovered and followed. So you won't see content that no one on the instance is interested in, but if someone is, they'll be able to find the community for it, even if they're on a small instance.
tankies need to be on thier own instances so they can circlejerk each other. politics is problematic in .world, they try to hid subtley calling people antisemtitic