Is what I'm doing actually useful?

Yes, people come to Lemmy to look at content and then discuss it, if we don't have content then there's no discussion.

If people don't like what you're posting, they'll let you know through votes on the posts

Yes.

Without posts, what's the point of a forum?

I do this a lot but in different communities to you. In the bigger communities your post can get lost in the feed, smaller ones they may just not be seen by many. You could try more mid range communities. You like politics and news, so you could try !politicalmemes@lemmy.world where you'll get more interaction. You could also mix it up with !goodnewseveryone@piefed.social where people just upvote and posts don't require interaction.

I've found if you post in the right places people start chatting and it's really fun!

Reddit wasn't immediately known as the "front page of the Internet." It took time to build up a reputation and tons of content before it started to get noticed and promoted by search engines.

Lemmy is the same. It's small now, but with enough content, it will eventually become a reference point like Reddit. Every little bit counts.

If you enjoy it then do it. Don't do with for an idea that you "should". Don't burn yourself out.

It looks like you've made 61 posts in the last 24 hours. That's a lot of content to provide!

If you're enjoying it, then there's no harm in carrying on. Well done, thank you!

But if you're not enjoying it, then slow down. Stop posting or just post less frequently, whatever it takes to feel like you're doing something you find worth doing. Otherwise, what's the point?

But to your original questions, I don't think you're wasting your time and posting is definitely useful for the Fediverse ecosystem.

I just scrolled through your post history. Many of your posts are items I have read and/or scrolled past absorbing the headline. These have kept me, and others I speak with, informed. So I would say, definitely, and please continue.

Plus, it's much more likely you are reaching humans here.

Absolutely. Thank you for all of your posts and this one.

Yes, absolutely it's useful. Good quality posts that people see is always a useful thing

I'd like to think that if anything I do makes someone's day a bit better, it was not a waste of time

Really depends on what you mean by useful. Looking briefly through your post history, it seems like a lot of your posts are news / politics. Are you hoping to use lemmy to educate and change people's perspectives? Because that's quite a different purpose than entertain and distract, or express an inner artistic vision, or grow the fediverse, and so on.

If you can explain what you seek from posting, we can get a better idea of whether it's working or not!

I think so. If you're a human and you're not a jerk, then interacting on a platform you want to see flourish is a good idea.

It might fail. Any given platform may fail despite many people's efforts to make it work. But that's not a good reason not to try.

I do think of it as better to put my stuff here, on a non-corporate forum, than somewhere else. Not sure it rises to the level of doing good or being useful, exactly. Maybe, as I personally find enjoyment on Lemmy, so perhaps I am providing the same to someone else.

No I don't think you are wasting your time.

I like some of your posts, no need to feel discouraged.

Usefulness is probably not the right word, though-- haha.

Well, what are you expecting, in return? Are people not replying/reacting to your posts? Maybe you're posting in the wrong community. Really, what are you wanting to see that you're not seeing?

!fedigrow@lemmy.zip

Yes keep at it, reddit wasn't built in a day!

Depends on what the meaning of life is

Usually, you need to know where you're going to know whether your motion is taking you there or not.

If you’re creating content, that is definitely useful.

I also see you posting a lot of gibberish links.

Every little part counts. We all form a community. Imagine if you're in a room and nobody says anything. Now imagine if it's a forum where a few people are chatting on something, that's what makes it engaging.

https://youtu.be/VNEZ2Z9Cero

I think David Mitchell puts it succinctly 👌

If you think something has worth (to you), everything is worthy.
Is it useful? Maybe for someone.
Assuming it got upvoted, I'd say yes :)

I think it is

pick a niche and post all about that.

personally I've been looking at the open slot for memes that secretly have penises hidden in them.