@zebpalmer I have been thinking about this a lot. With the ease of instance migration, what keeps a person at a particular instance? Here are my initial thoughts.

1. Verification - where one wants a clear identity with a brand, such as a journalist's handle with a known organization's instance, e.g., @journalist@social.[news organization].com.

2. Specialist affiliation - where one has a strong desire to be identified with a professional or specialists group and/or desire to review "local" topically specific timelines. E.g., technical profession, legal profession, pilots, hobbies, etc.

3. Political affiliation - where one would like to be in a community of like-minded political alignment and organization.

4. Social affiliation - where one's primary identity is with a special social class, such as religious affiliation, LGBTQ, etc.

5. Instance services - awareness of the instance, ease of on-boarding, and for more selective users, moderation policy and forked Mastodon features.

(I'm sure I am missing other classes)

Of course, each of these can have a local component, e.g., @idahodems.social, @idaholawyers.social, etc. But I wonder if geographic identity alone is enough to maintain a strong residency.

Interested in comments on this.

@hbw outside the US there are definitely popular instances tied to geography.