Glad that was helpful!
Not sure about Tusky, I remember trying our a number of mastodon apps initially but the original was seemed best. Until hopefully if 3rd parties mature then why not. But the original one is very simply and basic to use, recommend you check it out.
In your profile page/ tab you will see “following”, that’s where you can see you you’re following and also your followers in that tab. Separately at the top (mobile app), you’ll see a star and a “bookmark” icon, that’s where you’ll see your favorites and bookmarked toots.
And as for fun accounts, check out the tweet below that has a bunch that can get you started and fill your timeline slowly. Also keep in mind, you can follow hashtags.
https://toot.cat/@Hashtags/110742042033681800
As for searching, the new mastodon 4.2 I think brings in autocomplete for searches, so you’ll see that implemented soon on mastodon servers.
Hope that helps initially!
Oh yes, the app is open source… enjoy and welcome to mastodon!