I’ve been thinking about how we could potentially enhance the Lemmy experience, and I wonder if anyone else sees potential in incorporating a feature similar to Bluesky’s Custom Feeds or Mastodon’s Fedialgo?
Here’s my thought process:
Why Custom Feeds?
-
User Empowerment: Custom feeds allow users to tailor their experience, moving beyond the limitations of chronological or “popular” sorting.
-
Discovery: They can help users find content and communities they might not encounter otherwise.
-
Flexibility: Users could create feeds based on specific interests, keywords, or even complex criteria.
Bluesky’s Approach
Bluesky’s implementation of Custom Feeds is particularly interesting:
- Users can create and share their own algorithm-driven feeds
- It promotes algorithmic transparency and user choice
- The feature has been well-received for its innovative approach to content curation
https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-27-2023-custom-feeds
https://bsky.social/about/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/26/23739174/bluesky-custom-feeds-algorithms-twitter-alternative
Mastodon’s Fedialgo
Alternatively, we could look at Fedialgo, which:
- Allows for custom feed creation within the Mastodon ecosystem
- Is open-source and federated, aligning well with Lemmy’s principles
https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/fedialgo
Potential Implementation for Lemmy
-
User-Created Algorithms: Allow users to define their own feed algorithms using a simple interface.
-
Shareable Feeds: Enable users to share their custom feeds, fostering community curation.
-
Integration with Lemmy’s Existing Features: Ensure the custom feeds work well with Lemmy’s communities and cross-instance functionality.
-
Open-Source Approach: Keep the feature open-source and possibly federated, in line with Lemmy’s ethos.
I, unfortunately, do not have the time, energy, or knowledge to be able to attempt something like this.
What do you all think?
Could this be a valuable addition to Lemmy?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, concerns, or ideas for potential implementation.
Let’s get manual static user-defined multicommunities, and then let’s see for algorithm managed ones
https://piefed.social/ has “Topics” already
A feature like this would be very helpful. Thinking of onboarding new users, you’ll want to be able to give them an experience that eases them into things.
A custom feed that allows new members to see a variety of the best that Lemmy has to offer would be a good start. Then, when they are comfortable with the platform and its dynamics, they can customise it further, or swap the newbie feed for their own custom filter (which practically would come down to community subscriptions, I suppose?)
Now instead of making this comment very long, I’ll put in an video game anology to make it a bit more digestible:
What we need is a tutorial area that showcases all the different things that the Lemmy endgame has to offer. Creating memes, sharing news, the art of shitposting, being a lurker, actual discussions vs just scrolling to see the funnies: all these things are enjoyed by different types of people, and before they can reclass and enjoy the wild open world of Lemmy, it would be good for them to get comfortable with the controls and settings in a relative safe space.
i dont get it. i subscribe to a bunch of shit. i browse newest on my subscribed. done.
if i want to be exposed to new (unsubscribed) shit, i browse all/newest
i personally wouldnt benefit from any of your suggestions. maybe others would
I would really appreciate a “meta” feed and a “hobby communities” feed
Also being able to have memes split from the rest
