How is Hubski different?

Many news sites and aggregators are dominated by easily digestible images, short articles, and lists. Where the content is quality, often the conversation is hostile or lacking. Hubski is a platform that encourages thoughtful dialog, and enables people to have complete control over the content they see.



On Hubski, you can follow people, tags, and domains. Your feed is the result of who and what you follow. Posts are not voted upon. Posts propagate across the Hubski community by sharing and resharing.



If people post content you are not interested in, it will have little impact on your experience. If you don't follow a user, you will not see their posts. In addition, you can filter specific people, tags, and domains to keep them out of your feed, even if someone you follow shares them.



Another difference is the "speed" of the site. Users are encouraged to slow down, digest, and discuss the topics fully. Commenting on older posts is similarly encouraged. The Hubski algorithm will inject that old post back into the feed whenever the discussion revives.



Hubski allows people to post their own original content without hiding their identity. You can read more about this in Personal Content Isn't A Sin.

How does Hubski Work?

Hubski users follow one another. This fosters relationships around shared interests and conversation. Content propagates throughout Hubski when people share it with their followers. Following people allows for serendipitous content discovery and encourages a high level of discourse.



People have the ability to curate their own experience on Hubski; external moderation is not needed. There are no mods on Hubski. When someone posts content you aren't interested in you can "filter" them, when someone posts comments that you find offensive, you can "mute" them. On Hubski, you choose what you want to see and what you don't.



Your feed is displayed when you are logged in. It contains posts by people, tags, and domains you follow. When you click the hubwheel on a post, it shares the post with your followers.



You can view all posts using the global feed. Exceptional content can be found under badges. Each time a user fills up their hubwheel, they receive a badge that they can give away to reward a post or comment.

Why is Hubski based around following people rather than topics?

Following other people encourages everyone to take care with the content they post or share and results in a more diverse and serendipitous feed. You may follow someone specifically because they post great music. However, you will also see posts about things that user also finds interesting. You are exposed to a more diverse set of ideas and may explore a point of view or learn about something you normally wouldn't seek out.



Many people assume that this could result in a site full of "power-users,". However, when a site's primary motivation is quality discussion and not points, the concept of a "power-user" is vastly diminished. There are popular people on Hubski, but you don't have to follow them. In fact, you can specifically filter them.



Another misconception is that following people creates an "echo chamber." In fact, we feel that communities centered around topics are much more likely to become echo chambers, as people of like minds gather in the same place. It's very rare that an atheist subscribes to a Catholic board or vise versa. By following people that are looking to post, share, and engage with thoughtful content, the diversity of content and perspectives tends to be greater.

What are some of Hubski's features?