I follow hashtags I like, then see who the people are who use those tags, then follow those people.

I find that I discover people that way I would not have found otherwise.

It's worked well for me so far. I wasn't a twitter person before though, so I don't know if I have the experience you did for comparison.

If you start following hashtags, then you find interesting people. There are also curated lists that you can sign up for. That will introduce you to a lot of new content.

there's plenty of that going on, too, just not on as large a scale.

Put hashtags on your random shit and more people will find it