Micro.blog is a blogging platform with a social engagement component. We have a timeline where you can follow and interact with other bloggers. Sometimes it feels like Twitter, because of the timeline, mentions, and conversations. But there are key differences, built into Micro.blog, to make it a safe and sane place to share ideas with others.
In our quest to keep people safe from harassment or harmful viral waves of trolling, we limit the usual parts of a social network like search and trending posts for discovering new people. We do want like-minded people to be able to find each other on Micro.blog.
One of the best ways to find other folks to follow is the Micro.blog Discover timeline. It’s a simple general timeline, with entries culled from everything posted by registered Micro.blog accounts. We want to provide an easy-to-skim cross section of posts, so the culling is done by hand: no algorithm, no upvoting, no promotions. It is a very popular feature with the community.
There are also categories within the Discover section that are marked by “emojitags” or “tagmoji,” instead of hashtags. Micro.blog does not support hashtags, which are known to contribute to malicious trolling. The tagmoji categories, such as books, music, film, various sports and hobbies, are another place to find like-minded people.
How is the Discover timeline curated
The Micro.blog Discover timeline is intended to be a snapshot of the activity on Micro.blog. The idea is give people an idea what Micro.blog is like. When you are new, it is a good place to find people to follow. If you are already a regular microblogger, it is a good place to find new people to follow. It is not meant to be “best of” selection. There are some guidelines that have evolved since we first started curating the Discover timeline. These are not hard rules, and sometimes we bend them.
- Our goal is to start conversations, not arguments. We almost never include political posts for this reason.
- The posts we include are from people, not companies or organizations.
- The Discover timeline should generally be easy to skim. If there are links, it should be clear where they take the reader.
- One or two photos at most. Multiple photos make it harder to skim the timeline.
- Photos with accessibility descriptions (aka alt text) are more likely to be featured. Photo posts without alt text or any descriptive text are less likely to be featured.
- Micro.blog does not support hashtags which can accelerate the spread of fake news and harassment. So we don’t want to confuse people by including hashtags in our Discover timeline.
- We are inspired by the Buddy Bench principle, as explained by Patrick Rhone. We include posts from people who are seeking out others with similar interests and questions. The Discover timeline can be a digital Buddy Bench, where our community can connect.
- When people are new to the platform, we feature them more often, so that the community gets to know them.
- As part of our commitment to intentional inclusion, we curate the timeline to promote diversity.
Because Discover is curated by hand, it is usually updated once or twice per day. There may be delays due to the typical disruptions of the team’s schedule. We are always looking for ways to improve Discover and welcome your suggestions and opinion. Feel free to email community@micro.blog.