It's well understood that to make the most of a place like this, without juiced up algorithms, you have to follow a lot of people. But I think another thing is that you have to keep following new people because there is a lot of churn. A lot of people have faded out but there are always cool new people to discover.
@misc that's why I appreciate Follow Friday posts and accounts like @FediFollows
Following a lot of people is great (that's why I run this account ) but there are also other ways to discover new people:
For example following groups and hashtags ties you into conversations with new people all the time without having to follow them directly.
@misc Also follow back. When someone follows you, follow back. It's a great way to keep your time line fresh.
One other tip, use your mute button. Some content isn't offensive, but it's annoying or repetitive. You don't need to put up with it.
Yeah, the churn is a reality and it's sad. So many of my favourite connections move out, their accounts silent. I'm sure that always happens, in all social networks, but I guess there is an additional "I tried Mastodon after twitter and it wasn't for me" effect at work too. As you say, this is balanced by the joy of new connections.
@misc And follow hashtags, which you can do here but not on most (maybe all, but who can say for sure?) social media platforms. So no matter who is discussing a topic, if you're interested in it you'll see it in your feed.