So true.
I am a bit of a hypocrite as I refuse to spend my time contributing content to a corporate platform that just uses it to make more money for itself. I post my personal stuff and make my personal connections here, for our profit, on our blockchain.
That being said, I run a digital marketing company and spend hours per day pumping social media and ads onto those platforms for my clients. They pay me to do it though and I make it a sport to spend as little as possible on promotion while achieving the desired results.
Big social media is big because that is where the people currently are and I make a living because of that. A necessary evil I wish wasn't necessary but I think it is best to spend time creating content for ourselves and am happy for you not spending time writing over there.
That's good for you. It's working perfectly well.
The core idea for me is to pivot love for the content that one wishes to post on different handles. Finding a specific niche and loving it brings the community together, so why not do that with any handles? But with an Expectation to 'show' would only benefit such platforms, attracting big money for them, as you mentioned.
Can't agree more that if it is done for self-happiness can only go right-way anywhere.