When trying to be social and initiating conversation, I usually try to figure out what their interests are, because if we have nothing in common my brain can't figure out what to talk about. So I usually ask something like "what do you do for work?" or "what are you studying?". Most of the time, they don't do anything they actually like or are passionate about.
Eventually I ask about their hobbies or what they do in their free time, and most just give a vague response indicating nothing. Unfortunately my special interest has always been TV shows, could binge 8 hours in a row and get hyperfocused when watching a good story. I could talk for hours discussing and analyzing fictional stories.
Or maybe I'm simply repulsing to most people I try talking to, and therefore they.just don't want to tell, lol