Yeah asking people to sign up for developer accounts and manage their own API is a pretty big blocker.

I know a lot of people are probably scoffing at the above statement, because in reality it's quite easy, but I think people often forget how tech illiterate the average person is. Hell, the number one criticism of Mastadon, Lemmy, and other fediverse sites is that the sign up process is complicated, despite the fact that it involves exactly one additional step (pick an instance).