Great idea, this is more of a catch 22 situation where an organisation won't join as there is no base of followers, the followers can't join as they can't follow the institution.
The fact we DO have scientists, journals and some students starting to join is a good thing, it starts to break that deadlock. The user stats do speak for themselves to a point, but as it was pointed out that is number of accounts, which may not related to actual active users, hence encouraging people to interact is important.
I am sharing some posts via my website, but also ensuring it is clear that the origin is the fediverse. However my intention here is the posts / subject matter is interesting (e.g some of the events). So good to share.
I think word of mouth is important too.
It doesn't help when Twitter blocks people who link here, even when that link is a thread that just carries on the conversation.
Perhaps another factor is that mainstream social media also provides metrics of interaction (if that is the right term) and to some extent an income stream, probably via advertising.
With my blog I try and encourage people to carry on the conversation on fedi, or post links to the original thread here. I also start threads on science forms and provide a link there.
@zleap @jeff Catch 22 meets chicken & egg for journalism organizations too. Short of people and funds, should they commit time & money to an instance admin when readers aren't there yet, and when staff journalists actually may not be that interested in conversation with readers, just in their traditional broadcast model of mass communication.
So newspapers hire a separate "get us clicks" social media editor, but they may not have enough engagement with the journalists or readers.