@alexwild
1. Network effects. I can’t leave because several people that I find important and who I’m casual friends with are there and not here, and not anywhere else, either. As long as part of my social network is there, it holds me there. This is not surprising—Apple wields this with its Messages app.
2. Specific content: the coverage of cycling events is much worse here. I follow pro cyclists on Twitter. There is more cycling commentary on Twitter. This is also true of game dev. (And because I know a lot of people involved in both, see #1 again.)
3. News and government services: most news orgs are still there. The BC wildfire service is there and not here. I can get official government info about COVID there and not here.
4. Corporations. I can tweet at my internet provider and find the status of their network. I can complain to UPS or whoever about a missed delivery of their customer service fails me. Sometimes that works better.
5. All of the above. Twitter is a dumpster fire that’s crumbling, but in the meantime, it’s still a very powerful network.

I really enjoy Mastodon; I spend much more time here than Twitter now. But let’s not pretend that Twitter doesn’t have any value or utility. I hope a lot of those important services move over here, at least. But if they don’t, I’ll probably (unfortunately) keep on foot in that system forever.