Eh. I don't know. If there was less content on Hubski I think I would visit and refresh as often, but just have less opportunities to throw in on a conversation. In my experience having been here for a while, less content hasn't necessarily led to more conversation. What I found led to more conversation was knowing and trusting a cohesive, active group of members that I felt I could talk to, more than anything. So I think it is relationship-building that could drive conversation.
Yeah, I'm kind of hoping that Hubski can become a news source for me. Like, a place I can go to learn about what's going on in the world. I feel like conversations are a good way to learn about different angles to a news story, but the stories have to actually be there. I'm totally fine with just one comment on an article, but I check sites far too often to not have new information posted on the regular.
I see what you mean, I haven't been here very long so my opinion is probably isn't as informed as yours. I also haven't put much time into finding users and tags that I like to follow, and usually just browse on Global, so maybe that's why this place feels a little empty to me.
I would encourage you to follow users and tags because I do think it can enhance the experience, but unlike Reddit, it's only going to be an enhancement instead of potentially a totally different view. (I have subscribed to so many subreddits and un-subbed from others that my front page is nothing like the regular Reddit front page. I even missed a lot of the Ellen Pao hullaballoo.) I like to browse global as well to see what I have missed. Chatter is fun and useful if you are looking for conversations, you can see what others are chiming in on.