Feed Filter Setting

Users choose whether the platform feed is chronological or algorithmic.

How does this mitigate hate?

Allowing user the option to show their feed in chronological order breaks the cycle of prioritizing certain content according to what it determines as most relevant or most engaging—which often contains negative material or misinformation.

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When to use it?

Platforms that include a feed feature filtered through the use of an algorithm should use this pattern to allow users to choose how they want to be fed content.

Platforms that experience a high level of outrage and negative reactions to other posts should consider using this pattern to provide users with an option of filtering content in a way that isn’t intended to initiate a high level of engagement.

How does it work?

Users should be able to easily access this option menu, ideally through the feed itself. After the option has been changed by the user, the chosen setting should become the default after the app has been closed.

Advantages

Feed filtering methods that use algorithms to filter content for users typically prioritize content that is likely to initiate engagement by the user. The option of filtering by most-recent offers users the opportunity to view a more diverse selection of content, including content that they are less likely to engage with. Viewing content that is less likely to initiate engagement can help to mitigate the spread of hate in content feeds by slowing the spread of outrage from highly engaging posts.

Disadvantages

If this setting is set to filter by chronological order, it is likely that engagement from users will go down because users are not being exposed to content that is specifically curated to be likely to be interacted with by them.

Examples

Twitter feed settings
Twitter feed settings
(Screenshot taken June 2021)

Facebook feed settings
Facebook feed settings
(Screenshot taken June 2021)

References

Sartor, Prof. Giovanni, and Dr. Andrea Loreggia. “The Impact of Algorithms for Online Content Filtering or Moderation.” Europarl.europa.eu. European Parliament’s Committee on Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, September 2020. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/657101/IPOL_STU(2020)657101_EN.pdf.

Rose-Stockwell, Tobias. “How to Design Better Social Media.” Medium. Medium, April 13, 2018. https://medium.com/s/story/how-to-fix-what-social-media-has-broken-cb0b2737128.