It feels weird to defend Twitter, but really, I think there are some really nice sides to it that maybe not everyone realizes.
For the last couple weeks I’ve been scarce from the BBS, since I’ve been chatting and joking around with professional wildlife biologists, a few park rangers, bio teachers, and other related life sciences PhDs about who would win in a matchup between a set of mammals in a March Madness format. I’m an amateur naturalist, so it’s been incredibly cool being able to have that kind of access to those people and joke around with them, hear about relevant research, etc., and some of those folks bought copies of my book, which is also really cool on a few fronts. I also posted art I made related to the competitions and had a blast making it and seeing it get shared around with other people and joking around about it.
I follow Sarah Jeong, who’s a tech law reporter, who’s whip smart, really hilarious, and writes really interesting pieces (some featured on BB). I’ve joked around with her sometimes and asked about cases, and it’s been really, really cool.
I like Philip Bump since he’s the biggest dork or a reporter I’ve ever seen, and his pieces are all the kind of political nerdery I like best, and I joke around with him, and we had a running argument about whether Ted Cruz was the Zodiac Killer.
And there’s darth who is a hilarious political commentator, an admirable Photoshopper, and lover of dogs, and who makes me laugh every day, and who has tens of thousands of followers. They also will sometimes post photos of my hedgehog, and when they spot hedgehogs on Twitter and other things will ping me.
There are like a dozen more accounts from cool, interesting people/things I could explain why I like for many and various reasons, from fun accounts dog_rates, to writers I like who hang out on Twitter, to interesting people in my work domain talking about things that help at the job, and other things where I can get expert opinions from the authorities on the subject.
So I follow cool, smart, notable, interesting, etc. people I like getting to interact with where there’s no other way that would ever happen, but it’s normal and accepted on Twitter so long as you’re not a troll. I like that enough that I can put up with the down sides of the platform. YMMV.
I’ve done it myself, and I’ve learned some very interesting things I’d never have heard of if others here didn’t gush about them. I don’t consider that awkward at all. It’s not a bug-- it’s a feature. 
