I know Reddit's API changes just happened today but I wanted to remind everyone to search out and actively take part in other communities!
I know this is the hot topic right now but let's not let Lemmy's default feed JUST be about the Reddit changes. Seek out your hobbies and comment/vote/post <3
So im on mobile and I still haven't figured out instances. How do I change instances? Is changing instances even a thing or is it too late because I already signed up on lemmy world?
The exceptions might be enough to make someone want to at least have an alt account, IMO. (For anyone new, currently, one of the big exceptions is that Beehaw is currently not connected with Lemmy.world, though the leaders of the instances have been talking about it, and they plan to reconnect when some technical wrinkles have been ironed out. So that is definitely temporary. You can participate with both if you are on most other instances, it's just direct connection that currently isn't happening).
Other reasons include being able to quickly switch if your instance has technical difficulties, and being part of the instance that has your favorite communities. But yeah, +1 on not having to be part of every instance that hosts a community you like. That's the beauty of federation!
A furry instance I found is linked to Lemmy.World, but it also requires manual account activation and I saw no way of getting my Lemmy.World account in the system.
In case you haven't found out already: you need to search for it from your local instance (the search bar is located on your feed, or by your settings). Then, when that community comes up in search results (if it doesn't, try pasting in the URL rather than search terms), click through, and join from the sidebar. Or you could apply directly, I wouldn't worry too much about getting approved. I think that's often just a test to make sure bots are applying, rather than "are you good enough to join."
Right now, if you want to have an account in another instance, you need to go make a new account in that instance, which is totally fine, so go ahead. Mastodon allows direct account migration, but as far as I know, Lemmy doesn't have that function yet. (And welcome to the Fediverse! :3 )
Not too late at all. To change instances however, ypu need to register on that instance and do a new account. There isn't a way to switch instances on one account. Many are hoping there will be at one point a functionality to export stuff from one account to another but I have no idea how realistic that is.
Ah ok cool, i have another question, how many instances are there, too many to count or just a handful? Which instance is best to use ATM to save lemmy.world from being overloaded?
Closer to "too many to count" than to a handful, but a lot are basically one person running an instance for themselves. Off the top of my head, I'd guess there are at least a dozen that are pretty big and active. Not all of them have "Lemmy" in the name, so you have to find them on one of the instance lists floating around, or just by clicking through to the local instance associated with communities you're following.
I'm still getting used this fedi system of things. I couldn't make an account on Lemmy, but I can on Kbin. I wasn't expecting to see Lemmy posts here so it was a nice surprise