The fediverse is better than any other form of social media in a lot of ways: it is decentralized, free and open source, doesn't track users, and isn't engineered to make you addicted to it.
But, because there is no tracking or ads, their only way to make money is through donations, which are used to pay the costs of hosting the content and keeping the servers running. This means there is no easy way to make money by making "content" on the fediverse (besides asking for donations).
Many people argue that this is a bad thing, because it means that less people will use it. I'm here to argue that this is actually a good thing.
I'm not a "fediverse elitist" or anything like that; quite the opposite in fact, I want as many people as possible switching away from walled-garden social media, even people I deeply disagree with.
The problem is that, when there is a big incentive to make money, people will try to exploit the system to make as much money as possible; just look at social media algorithms, short-form content or the Youtube videos from people like Mr Beast and the like. There are tons of studies on how this kind of content is bad for you, and I think we can all agree that it is.
In contrast, videos uploaded to Peertube, for example, feel more human. This is a bit nerdy but look at this video from Jan Beta; it doesn't have a crazy thumbnail, constantly changing scenes or upbeat music in the background, it feels like "someone trying to show you something cool he's done" and not "someone trying to hypnotize you into keep watching stuff".
The Fediverse feels like the early days of social media, when it was just a bunch of folks showing things to the world for fun, but, while "traditional" social media has become enshittified, the fediverse has stayed that way, and I really like it.
And if you want to be a part of it, well, just join the fediverse!