Feed: Building a Web of Support
The feed feature is now live! We are very excited about this! As part of its launch, I wanted to share some important thoughts on the value of this feature and how it can be used to build a stronger, more compassionate community experience for all of us.
I outlined some of our thinking on the feed here in this pain to path post, but am now realizing that it was too long. Here is the short version!
Many of us are in pain because we have people in our lives that can be negative. When we are trying to recover it can be really hard to make progress when people around us - intentionally or unintentionally - are negative.
7 Cups is a safe place where people are positive, kind, and accepting (that is what makes us so different). The challenge for many people is that they come to 7 cups, have a great conversation, feel better, and then sink back into their old relationships and start to struggle again.
Why does this happen?
This happens because, prior to the feed, we didn
Thank you for this..
It's great to know we can use other ways to help spread love, compassion, kindness. I personally will use this feature to post inspirational quotes, I want to see my members visiting my profile and reading something that will change their day or will put a smile on their face. I will try to be as creative as possible and help build more connections..
THIS IS AWESOME!
Thanks @Johnny20! We are going to learn a lot here and I appreciate you reaching out to members in new ways :)
This is a great idea! I am so excited to try out my feed feature!
I don't think I have anyone following me at the moment? So, thus all my cat pictures will be for my enjoyment for right now I suppose!
But I'm excited regardless! Thanks Glen!
I wonder if the feed will get a commenting feature?
we expect to support commenting eventually but didn't want to load down the initial release with too many bells and whistles
Yay! and yeah, I understand! Can't wait for that feature either though :)
I quite like the idea of the commenting feature, but do you think that the commenting feature could lead to hateful comments at some point (due to trolls or something) - just brainstorming here! @OrangeSlices
I'm going to go follow you now!
Yay! I shall follow you back :)
Thanks for laying it out so simply and clearly.
Why do we chat and post to forums? To connect to people. This gives us more ways to connect, and more ways to feel connected.
7 Cups has managed to provide ways to chat and ways to carry on sustained discussions that are positive, uplifting, and helpful to everyone involved. We can do the same thing for self-expression and sharing what's in your heart with people who care about you.
Very interesting update indeed, way to soon to form an opinion on it. My biggest worry is that people will be asking for others to follow them and it becomes like the sites we are all here to escape. If it does become like that from my point of view I will deactivate. I really hope this feature goes down well. I want to say a quick thanks to everyone that actually helped build this update! :)
I'm glad you expressed that concern. I would like us to foster a culture that does not re-create the atmosphere you describe that can be so toxic on social media sites.
I expect it will be like that for the first couple of weeks because its a new feature which is totally fine. After that though I think it will slow down in that regard though, well I hope so anyways! :)
I think we have a rare opportunity to establish some community norm and model the kind of behavior we'd like to see!
Gonna post on my feed now!! Can't wait to see what comes of this!! :)
I honestly doesn't understand the rule saying "do not post things that are advice giving", may we have any example of "advice giving" templates ?! Because it confuse me, it'd be my type of people to write things that can be interpreted as advice but that are not properly advices...
I am down with this. Great idea and follow through! I see this happen in chat all the time where people want to stay in touch but we cannot give out personal contact info. Here's a safe way for people to feel even more connected. Very hopeful that the amount of people helped with this will way outnumber the amount of people who take advantage of systems.
This is exciting! can't wait to post on my feed!!
It is indeed a lovely feature and I think it'll help a lot in the community building process!
I do have one concern though. I agree with @kdog334 with the point that I really hope that this doesnt turn into something of a popularity contest where people compete over who's got the most followers. It'll be nice if everyone knows that the number of followers doesn't really matter as long as you keep posting uplifting and positive updates on your feed. Even if one members sees it and it makes them feel better, I guess the job of this feature is done! It'll also help the member to get to know the listener better before they choose them for a 1-on-1 chat.
I think that's it for my concern for now, but I do have a couple of questions!
Is it okay to post a vocaroo on your feed so everyone can have a nice lovely message to listen to before they talk to you?
Thank you everyone who's worked on this, this is amazing! :)
I was thinking that the number of follower and people you follow does not need to be shown, it really has no purpose and not showing that might mean there would be no such popularity contest
That's quite a good idea! I reckon it could be a personal thing? Like I can see who's following me, and who I'm following, but nobody else can! That way even if no one is following me, I dont really have to feel bad.
I reckon if we're able to see other people's followers too, there might even be a stage where people start wondering "why isnt that person following me too?" or something like that? (sorry if I sound silly, it makes sense in my head)
Exactly it! I've already had some people ask why i'm not following them and it makes me feel like i'm back on social media. making your followers and who you follow only visible to you would really be a good safegard from anything that could become toxic. There is no advantage at all when it comes to showing follow information so I think it should be hidden early :)
Yes, I know right? It might lead some people to thinking a lot more than necessary and I don't think anyone should be pressured into following someone! It's also sometimes an awkward situation when someone is like "Oh I'm following you!" I just feel like it'll be mean if I dont say that I'll follow back!
Also, your point you brought up. Some people may feel bad for having not many followers so I see nothing bad about actually keeping those numbers private. Would love to hear what you think @GlenM and @KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
So I think this popularity contest point is a valid point @kdog334 and @Anushka1. Let me explain my thinking. 7 Cups is a different kind of place. The medium and mechanics of how something works - chat, forums, feed, badges etc. - are very similar to how they work on other sites. What makes them different here is how we individually and collectively use them. Stated another way, our culture uses the tools in a way that furthers our mission. These tools - all of them - can be used for bad, good or indifferent. We have consistently innovated and used our tools for good. One example, chat is routinely used for harassing people and or engaging in sexting on other sites. We have worked together as a culture to minimize or limit those components and instead have used chat as a way to bring light and hope into peoples' lives. The same goes for the forum. The same goes for badges. And the same will go for the feed as well. We are different here, so we have to experiment, work together, and figure out how to use the feed in optimal ways - just like we have done and continue to do for chat, forums, badges etc. Now, to the specific point about hiding follower and following counts. I did a lot of research on this and we had a lot of internal discussions about how to do this. Like with the other tools, there are certain components that make the engine of the tool work. For example, upvotes in forums are relevant here. You could say that upvotes in forums are a way of some people getting more upvotes than others and that could be conceived as a sort of popularity contest (I realize that follower and following accounts are more intense than upvotes, but hang with me). We had concerns and discussions about that when we launched the forum. In the end, the upvotes have been very beneficial to us as a community and I don't think anyone would disagree with that. I think the feed as we have it now has all of the elements that we need in order for it to work like the Web of support we have conceptualized. If we remove pieces here or pieces there, then we run the risk of compromising it and ending up with a tool that falls short of what it could be.
There is an old saying that says don't mistake the finger for the moon. The idea is that sometimes the vehicle of something points to something greater. The feed components are minor here, what we have to keep in mind and look at is the moon. I strongly believe that we can repurpose the feed here on 7 cups to do amazing things for emotional wellness that have not even be conceived yet.
Let me know if this helps. Re the music room below, i'm not sure that has the potential for the same therapuetic benefit, but perhaps i'm wrong! I'll keep an open mind!
The only thing this popularity contest needs now is a leaderboard. That'd be the cherry on the cake _
I see this is a very popular post
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