[egypturnash]

Do you have... friends?

You can follow friends and see what they are saying throughout the day, and maybe converse with them, in a lower-commitment manner than having a private chat with just them. Their other friends might be part of this conversation too. Maybe some of their other friends will become your friend too.

You have to have some friends first though. If you don't have any then I could easily see how it looks useless.

[uhtred]

I have friends, but I guess I don't see the need to converse with them in public for all to see- why not use something private like whatsapp or signal? Why the need to show everyone else that you have friends?

Do you post a status update telling all your "friends" that you stubbed your toe and then feel depressed when you don't get many heart emojis?

Or do you post a really witty observation about something in the news, so witty you spent all morning thinking of it, and then get depressed when no one reposts it?

sure though, you only use it to communicate with your friends.

[wiml]

That used to be what I used social media for, but Twitter lost its utility for that sometime in the early 2010s.

[egypturnash]

Yeah pretty much. It turned into an Outrage Machine, because that makes more money. I started running a Mastodon for myself and some friends in the mid-2010s and it's been really nice.