EDIT: Just crossed 26000!
Almost! At the time of this post, lemmy.world has a whopping 25733 users and is growing fast.
Since my last post yesterday, it has added 4000 new users, making it the clear second-largest lemmy instance out there. Also quickly catching up to lemmy.ml's 36000 (not taking new signups).
beehaw.org (3rd largest) sits at 12500 users, partly because of more restrictive registration requirements.
Source: https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/list
Exciting to see all this growth!
Joined yesterday. Don't really grasp the different instances yet but world sounded like a default to me
Think of it like your email provider. One is yahoo, one is Google, one is Hotmail, etc. They can all email each other, but they have different rules.
.world is just another "provider" but by no means a default, in fact it was only started 2 weeks ago.