Pixelfed

I am still getting a new pixelfed instance up and I don't see anything like a feed relay like what mastodon has to pull in things on the server.

This is what I see when I log in as a new user (edit: since this screenshot I fixed the default avatars):

Right now it looks like pixelfed.social has an allow-list for who they allow to search and federate with, so I can't pull or search anything from there, but I was able to pull in the Europe user, which is why it's seen here.

I'd like to get things looking pretty interesting on the front page before I announce the service.
Does anyone have any tips or best steps?

I was thinking of whether to have a separate account that follows hashtags and then auto-sub new users to that account, or am I confusing with mastodon?

Thank you for the help and suggestions!