I think lemmy will start hitting it’s stride when it gets more widely known about especially within the Reddit sphere. I’ve been looking for a federated Reddit alternative for years because I love the format but don’t trust Reddit anymore because it’s going public. As venture capital starts squeezing that service, I think more people will be open to looking for an alternative especially as more of the web becomes accustomed to federation in general.

For several years I’ve been using Pleroma as my main social plataform along with Lemmy. Switching to Pleroma for new users is more difficult than it seems:

• Minimalistic UI that might confuse people in some ways (maybe people might interpret the look as an old site from the early 2000s).
• Many instances with controversial content: NSFW, Lollicon/Shotacon/Hentai, Shitposting, Politics (especially alt right), etc.
• Lack of moderation (related to the previous point).
• More instances for personal/private use than focused on growing a community.

Pleroma has many features (eg Gopher support) that I recommend it for experienced/advanced users, people who know exactly what they want. Not for those who want a “simple twitter/facebook replacement”.