@cadadr @Gargron yeah, that's what I meant — that's because there is no way to find people you know besides asking them what their usernames are. So, naturally, they follow whoever they're able to find. And so that's the result you get.

For me, it's always been the exact opposite. On any social media platform (except Mastodon!) the majority of my connections is with people I know in person. So I'm naturally perplexed that nothing in the fediverse is built around this. Will fix with #Smithereen.