I'm not even trying to say, "Hey! The Fediverse is the *only* way to do decentralized social media".
Because it's not.
I personally think Secure Scuttlebutt is a pretty kickass implementation of a decentralized social network.
It decentralizes social media in ways that are vastly different from the Fediverse. For one thing, you don't even need any instances. Which is pretty great!
What I'm getting at here is most of these crypto "social networks" are terrible as decentralized social networks because the DAO is too much of a factor.
On a true decentralized social network, the input of a centralized entity or governing authority shouldn't matter regarding whether or not I can use it.
On the same token, there should be freedom of association. People should be able to decide whether or not they want to talk to me.
That's why decentralization matters!