I am always a little surprised that everyone is surprised as if people are intentionally avoiding Mastodon.

I like Mastodon but it is empty by comparison to BlueSky people want a social media app where there are people to talk to on quantities. BlueSky is also user friendly by comparison, IMO. Easier to setup.

"Well Mastodon would be busier if people would stop going anywhere else."

No one is avoiding Mastodon I think it is odd it has never occurred to anyone that BlueSky is talked about way more. I had never heard Mastodon before Lemmy but I saw talks of BlueSky everywhere.

At least it can be bridged, and people can partially self-host. If you take a look at Mastodon and Bluesky, you'll quickly realize the gap between Twitter-like feel between Bluesky and Mastodon, maybe a different interface that puts it more close to Twitter and mobile apps with it would help.. a lot of Twitter users used it on mobile app.

People doesn't understand mastodon fragmentation/federation. They can only cope with simple concepts like "the whole thing is HERE ---> X"