Ok, I just now grokked the upside of the local/federated timeline thing:
When I just asked a question, I had four followers. Only one of those particularly active. But due to the fact that my question showed up on the timeline of others too, them knowing that I am part of their instance/group, they helped me.
Immediate upside to Twitter, I like that! (also, 500 characters for the win!)
@JollyOrc Right now, I guess the point of following users is being able to find more easily their toots, or if you think they are likely to boost things that will interest you, because they will show up on your Home TL
But yeah, most of the discussions apparently happen between random people, because everyone tend to read the Local or the Federated TL, not keeping themselves at the Home TL
@MonsieurJ well, my home TL is only starting to fill, so..
still: I regard this as a feature, especially as it helps me to peer out of my filter bubble.