I've seen a couple of "the fediverse is only used by nerds, so it won't survive - it needs the cool kids to arrive" hot takes recently.

I'm not sure the basic principle - that it is only used by nerds today - is correct anyway.

And even if it were, a small group of nerds is more than enough to keep a service running for themselves and their friends. The fediverse has already "survived" for years.

And who says nerds aren't the "cool kids" anyway?! Being nerdy is pretty cool, IMHO.