Right now the user count Lemmys is comparatively tiny when held up against reddit - but the user count isn’t the thing that makes a social media site, it’s the engagement
So even if you’re used to lurking, try to get a little more active! Post memes, vote on posts, talk in the comments, whatever!
If people come here and see activity, content, and discussions, they’re more likely to stay and contribute their own - if they come and see a ghost town, they’ll just go back to reddit
I used to pretty much just lurk when I used reddit, I’d maybe post a comment every few months, but really I’d just lurk. I’ve easily past the number of posts and comments I ever made to reddit during the many years of using it daily. Initially I wanted to make an effort for Lemmy to succeed, obviously it has less people so as your post is suggesting, I was trying to do my part. I found I really enjoy posting here though, the community is really great.
I’m in a similar situation - I used to semi-lurk reddit, making maybe 2 comments per week and a post a month. The thing is, I really had to think about what I posted there, because with one opinion that the hivemind disagrees with I could lose most of my karma. Also, it would take a long time to get replies to posts that weren’t memes, if I even got any.
Bit here? No karma system, and way more active community. I made a post yesterday, before I went to sleep, and when I woke up it had around 5 comments. That post was in a niche community