One of the many interesting properties of BlueSky that is enabled by the open AT Protocol is the ability for anyone to create custom feeds.
Imagine being able to choose or build the algorithm that drives your X or LinkedIn post feed. That’s what this is!
To experiment with custom feeds, I’ve built the Network Nook.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been adjusting the ‘algorithm’, which currently consists of terms with scores that match the post content and tags. After a few fun mistakes (giving ‘isis’ a high score doesn’t work so well) the signal to noise ratio is now to a point that I find the feed interesting and useful.
For those not familiar with BlueSky, it may surprise you to learn that custom feeds like the Network Nook are first class citizens in the app. Just go to the feed section and search.
For the details on how custom feeds work and sample code go to the AT Protocol website but here’s the TL;DR:
- Subscribe to the post firehose (yes, the full post firehose is part of the open nature of AT Protocol).
- Filter the posts based on an algorithm of your choice.
- Expose an HTTP endpoint that provides a list of the posts IDs that the algorithm matched.
- The user’s PDS and the AppView (AT Protocol terms) hydrate the post IDs into content and build the feed.
The service that provides Network Nook lives on my VM but feels every bit as core to BlueSky as the main Following and Discover feeds.
I started down this path building everything from scratch. It’s surprisingly simple but part way in I found Supercell. With Supercell’s embedded RHAI scripts I’ve been able to do what I’ve needed so far.
There are also several no-code ways to create feeds:
And probably more… there’s a lot of innovation happening in the AT Protocol ecosystem.
Next I want to add multi-term matches and something like the test tube icon the Science Feed uses to enable users to target the feed.
Between the pure timeline-based “Following” feed, much more transparency by being built on an open foundation and choice enabled by features like custom feeds, it feels like BlueSky has the foundation to be a better, and less easily abused [1] social network.
Semi-related, Character Limit is a great read. Definitely worth your time.
[1] – Seriously, who wouldn’t feel bad cheating like that?