For federated apps, I really like Lemmy itself for text discussions, and PeerTube for video. The cool thing about the fediverse is you actually own your content and can move instances without losing your audience. It’s like the opposite of the social media trap where you build an audience but don’t own any of it. I’m working on something similar called The Zeitgeist Experiment - mapping public opinion via email to cut through the algorithmic noise. Not federated, but same spirit of reclaiming thoughtful discourse from engagement-optimized platforms.