I’m new here just like most other folks, but from what I’ve seen so far is: Lemmy is a place to post links to your content, Peertube is the place to post your videos, Pixelfed is the place to post GIFs and short videos. Lemmy can handle picture uploads, but not much more than that right now.
But none of these instances is going to survive if users don’t donate. All those corporate social media sites were free because you weren’t the customer, you were the product.