Based on how my conversations have gone, I’d just skip explaining the federation part entirely. Most people don’t care

I’d just say it’s like Reddit, but more friendly and less addictive. Sell that they’ll get all the important news and memes, but without the ads, bots, and garbage content shoved in their faces

I’d also pick a home server for them and help them set it up, lemmy.world is probably good as a default if they’re coming from mainstream socials

Truth is, most people really don’t care how it works. They just want it to work, and their first impression shouldn’t be choice overload or a data dump