personally i’d find a smaller one just for the sake of stability. there’s a few fandom themed ones that are cool, plus you can subscribe to communities hosted on other instances no problem

It depends.

One which has communities on that you like will make your “local” feed more relevant. (have a look at [email protected])

One which has a domain you like might appeal.

Otherwise, given you can subscribe to anything on any instance, it doesn’t really matter.

Whatever works for you. lemmy.world is the big dog so there’s a tonne of activity here but it can be a little slow at times and the target of malicious attacks. You will also find that the front page can be a real fire hose of content.

If you look around you can find regional instances that serve up a more local slant on things or a topic specific instance that looks technology, books, etc. Or you want somewhere more aligned with your politics or an instance with more porn.

There’s something for everyone and no one-size-fits-all answer to your question.

lemm.ee has been great

Search: bigger instances. Speed: something close to you. Bigger: juicier targets for DDOS, hacks. Smaller: likelier to disappear.

Check out different parameters on: https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/

I’m not sure I’ve made 3 accounts and I’ve had issues with 2 of them going down completely so far. The account that has yet to let me down is this lemm.ee one but I suspect its probably a matter of time.

I’d suggest signing up to a couple of instances you can use a program called Lasim to sync communities and blocks between them.

Honestly I’d just pick the instances that appeal most to you, karma’s not a thing here so nothing is lost switching really.

Pick something close to you so you get low latency :)