@bitpickup @OrionKidder @taylorlorenz For me, the benefit is that there aren’t so many bots user pretending to be human users here.

@bitpickup @OrionKidder @taylorlorenz Maybe she has already paid some money (to Mastodon).

I don't think just setting up an instance will attract more users from other place, but thank you for mentioning. It's indeed very cheap. If one day my current instance somehow discontinue, I would consider setting up one on my own.

Personally I see this as a place to make new friends. I don’t expect people I already know to use it for they think there’s no clear benefit.