@davidpnice I don't know if you are using the interface called "Elk" but it gives a much more "Twitter-like" experience. You can sign in through https://elk.zone/m.webtoo.ls/public/local.

Of course that doesn't deal with the issue that the user base here is still small - and probably much smaller than it should be due to the sad history (now greatly improved) of Mastodon requiring people to understand all sorts of technology crud before they can even get onto the platform.

The other major problem with Mastodon (actually a deliberate choice by its creators) is to make the search function extremely limited.