Reddit maybe?
Perhaps. Often I check Reddit to see what my contacts there have
posted; I haven't used Reddit as long as Facebook, but it does look like you can follow people on Reddit too.
I liked Reddit years ago (at the beginning), when it was like USENET to me, just with different UI. But when they'd changed the UX to become more "modern" and all the algorithmics to keep you engaged with the same dirty tricks as FB and Twitter did for years, I ditched Reddit and switched to HN and Lobsters just to get inspired by some links for tech topics.
For casual conversations I found BBSes my little sanctum. Clean, focused, lot of smart asses but at least we all get the rules of the game the same way and communicate toward engaging ourselves, not the ad system.
There is just few topics I don't see covered well but this electronic medium that I'd expect to have a nice online place for it. Nominally those are pen and paper rpgs and perhaps some digital art inspirations (hard to pitch that in a text terminal, so I don't blame anybody :>)
Most of the rest of my online needs are here and there but within local and FTN networks if I'm curious and willing to discuss.
Mastodon is great to expose yourself a bit to the world, with a bit of a new illusion of having it under control, and sometimes (to my surprise) also a place for meaningful discussions or comments.
The rest is already classified as crap in my online world and If I still hold FB or LinkedIN accounts.. I keep them for passive not active usage only.
-h1
... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a copy.