Then you have forums which are like lecture halls, IRC like apps (Discord, Slack) which feels more like classroom (without the teacher) and finally, the direct conversations in Whatsapp, Messenger and Telegram.
I love art but could care less about the field of art criticism.
I use to have a geocities personal site on the old internet and it is not like anyone ever looked at that either.
The real difference is I don't remember anyone caring about the number of myspace followers a person had. It only mattered who was in your top 6 or however many it was in your top list. Obviously, that is because there was no money to be made with having connections to people you didn't know.
Most recently I received a comment from someone asking to buy some of my art and I felt incredibly flattered.
Like we shouldn't be constantly seeking validation from external sources, but we're inherently social creatures so getting a bit of positive feedback is good.
It seems like if you want engagement you have to post some sort of bait content to encourage people to reply. This is often controversial stuff which gets people fired up, or some culture war nonsense.
The Internet was supposed to make us feel more connected than ever but it increasingly feels like whatever you create ends up being a shout into the void.
If you're sharing content that's primarily outside of the main platform, it often won't get as much reach as platform-native content. That's why every big creator always ends up making their own newsletter, in order to have a way to directly connect with people.