It’s been difficult to broach the subject and explain the technical concepts to the average person. I did have some success in first sharing the email comparison, which lead into interoperability.
I’m just curious to hear people’s success stories, if you have any.
For Twitter-alikes (Mastodon, Misskey, etc.) you probably want to be following hashtags instead of people, though that’s not really what the UI will initially drive you towards. That’ll let you follow topics and interests, with the option of also following people you find interesting from the hashtags you’re following.