Umbrel may have figured this out by adding NOSTR relays to their nodes. One of the easiest ways to run a relay now is to set up a lightning node!
Gotta make lightning addresses easier to create that point to your own node though.
Discussion
Noderunners would be a drop in the ocean relative to a moderately successful social media platform… The vast majority of users are going to have to rely on custodial Lightning - they won’t have the interest or technical ability to run a node… I agree with your point but it’s a bit like email. You can run your own email server but how many bother?
Agree. The first wave to these kinds of new technologies are super-enthusiasts and fans of the technology itself.