The best way to use it is to follow users and hashtags of things you're interested in. It is a lot like Twitter, in that you push posts and people can answer them.
There might be two main differences from Twitter. First, it's must harder to go viral, meaning that different users will generally see completely different content (unless something is "boosted" across the network). Second, but maybe because engagement is spread more across the platform, the atmosphere is much more chill. The toxicity Twitter is famous for is really rare, and when you see it it's easy to mute people.