Ok, I just now grokked the upside of the local/federated timeline thing:
When I just asked a question, I had four followers. Only one of those particularly active. But due to the fact that my question showed up on the timeline of others too, them knowing that I am part of their instance/group, they helped me.
Immediate upside to Twitter, I like that! (also, 500 characters for the win!)
@MonsieurJ well, my home TL is only starting to fill, so..
still: I regard this as a feature, especially as it helps me to peer out of my filter bubble.