Reddit Introduces New For You and Following Feeds to Improve Content Discovery
Reddit is rolling out a new dual-feed experience with For You and Following options. The update helps users discover new communities while keeping up with posts from their favourite subreddits.
The Reddit website is introducing a brand new dual feed feature that is expected to help its users find content that can be interesting for them. As per the announcement, the website is giving its users the opportunity to discover interesting posts and communities by using two different types of feeds. Users will now have the ability to select between two types of feeds: the For You feed that will show personalized content recommended to them by the algorithm, and the Following feed that will feature all the communities that the user follows.
By introducing the dual feed feature, Reddit plans to give its users a more flexible way of content discovery and will make it possible for them to find interesting communities, conversations and discussions according to their interests. While using the For You feed, the Reddit website users will be able to see posts and content coming from communities that they follow and recommended to them by the algorithm according to their interests and actions on the website.
In contrast, the Following feed will be much more specialized in terms of content browsing. It will not show any recommended content, but only those posts which come from communities which the user has subscribed to. In this way, one can easily find updates from favorite communities without any recommendations of posts from unfamiliar communities cluttering up the feed. For those users who are looking for more organized and predictable experience on Reddit, this new feature may be especially helpful.
As stated by Reddit, the implementation of these two feeds is a first step towards better content discovery and finding something interesting and relevant which can be either an idea, connection, perspective or even new hobby. Also, Reddit outlined its goal of creating more human internet where people actively discover the content which makes them engage into discussion instead of passive scrolling through posts.
It should also be mentioned that it becomes possible for users to alternate between these two streams at any moment of time. Besides, Reddit remembers which stream the user has chosen last, so that the application starts with this stream again next time the user opens the platform. This small feature should add convenience for the users that often alternate between discovering new communities and continuing following the topics they like.
Thus, one may suggest that these two new feeds implemented by Reddit are aimed at combining personalized recommendation and user choice. While the first feed is meant for discovering new communities and discussions, the second feed allows maintaining this experience around the content chosen by users. Hopefully, the global implementation of this feature that is scheduled for the following weeks will provide better experience.
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