I was just thinking that it would be pretty neat if there were some metrics which were made privately available to users which detailed what content they had put out attracted users to follow them. As it stands now, this doesn't seem feasible since a few added changes would need to be made to even entertain the idea. I'm quite new here, so perhaps this is against the philosophy of Hubski? Do let me know if this is the case, but I feel like this could be a good thing.
So...
1.) Add the ability for users to follow users from any post which is made.
2.) When someone follows a user, that user which is followed receives an update (enable/disable in settings) which informs them that user-x has followed them because of post-y.
3.) On a user's profile, there would be a graphical display available to indicate where they've attracted the most followers. This would be made private to each user and not publicly available on everyone's profile.
I think this achieves a few things. Mainly, I feel that this encourages users to continue submitting quality discussion because it allows them to realize which posts specifically were enjoyed by people enough to want to hear more from them. As it is now, I am seeing users follow me, but I'm not able to easily discern what exactly prompted them to do so.
By keeping things private to each user, it doesn't encourage others to jump on bandwagons or aim to farm imaginary internet points. Instead it aims solely to inform users which areas they are most loved for and that way they may choose to focus moreso on those areas and/or choose to attempt improvement in areas which have attracted less followers.
With all of that said, I feel that this is enough to warrant entertaining the possibility of adding these types of features in the future. What do you all think?
~Esrever
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EDIT: Upon further thought, I realized that it may be an even better option to instead incorporate some of these things with shares rather than the following of users. I'd think that people are a bit more liberal with clicking save rather than clicking follow, but I could be wrong. Though, both together would be great too. The more data available, the better!
1 can be found in the upper right of any post. 2 is an interesting idea. We'll discuss it for sure. I'm not sure about 3, but we are soon implementing a bit more info for the poster to understand more about its reach. Coupling that with 2 might provide some good info. Not always. Too much can lead to loss of focus and diminishing returns. But I agree that the right data at the right place can do a lot. I should mention that commenting is often as important to getting followers as posting is.The more data available, the better!
Doh. I completely missed that. Thanks for pointing that out. I happen to have used post to interchangeably mean post/comment. That's just my folly.1 can be found in the upper right of any post.
I should mention that commenting is often as important to getting followers as posting is.
The little I have seen of Hubski so far suggests that most of what you are suggesting is accomplished by people actually talking to each other. Try messaging some of the people following you and ask them those questions personally. In fact, forget the feedback. That just sounds plain fun.