@hugo
Adding hashtags to one's profile, making an #introduction post and searching / pinning hashtags are low-effort methods, using the Fediverse's own tools, which can also help the newcomer.
@wordsmith Then they look at an empty instance where nothing happens and don't know where to start. Search will return no results and they are just left with an empty instance where nothing happens.
They invite a couple of friends, they speak between themselves a couple of times and never come back. After a while they end up deleting the installation and giving up on Mastodon without ever seeing how the network works.
@wordsmith Just decided to give this a shot because suggesting manually searching outside their installation for accounts to follow has rarely been something new users are willing to do.
@wordsmith You are correct and that will work pretty well if you are joining an instance where federated content is already present.
The reason I have made that tool is that I have seen time and again people installing Mastodon without any previous experience of the Fediverse and no list of follows to bring with them to the new installation.