This is very close to my thoughts recently. As you point out, the quality of conversation on niche sites and smaller communities can be quite a bit higher, and there are fewer worries that the site is infiltrated with marketers/bots/etc. I don't want my time wasted or to be a target of manipulation. There is also the advantage that I know I'm not helping to support these massive monopolies that are making the world a worse place. I would feel guilty about that even though my visits are truly unimportant on the margin.
This is very close to my thoughts recently. As you point out, the quality of conversation on niche sites and smaller communities can be quite a bit higher, and there are fewer worries that the site is infiltrated with marketers/bots/etc. I don't want my time wasted or to be a target of manipulation. There is also the advantage that I know I'm not helping to support these massive monopolies that are making the world a worse place. I would feel guilty about that even though my visits are truly unimportant on the margin.
Well, yeah. Do you remember the internet before MySpace and Digg popped up? Interacting with people was generally visiting different specific bulletin boards, newsgroups or chat rooms. There was no central repository for "I go here to internet" (unless you used AOL). That method worked quite well for a long time, but it didn't have mass appeal because the interactivity was scattered and required effort. That was generally a good thing though because it led to more dedicated people talking to other dedicated people. I actually had a writing class when I was at university where the only research we were allowed to do was via alt. newsgroups. This was like 20 years ago, but I was honestly shocked at how good the information was on some of those newsgroups. It changed the internet for me.
Now you have people who's only idea of the internet is Facebook, Twitter and Google. The simplicity and consolidation dumbed down the entire internet culture to a point where I had made an effort to separate entirely from the toxicity those massive sites created.