Evolution of Decentralised Social Media — Replies are not Repeeps

Part of my Peepeth series.

Background

Peepeth is a microblogging platform (with a soul). Users create peeps (posts) that are shown in the feed.

Currently, all peeps are displayed in the feed regardless of whether they are a peep or a reply to a peep.

I believe that the feed should only contain peeps and repeeps, whilst replies should be excluded. Doing so should increase user engagement.

Peep, repeep with comment and repeep

Reactions

Peepeth has a one like per day reaction, called an Ensō. Users can also tip great content. Whilst I love both of these features, some peeps just need a simple reaction. To this end, the #lkie hashtag can be used in reply (Created by me, sorry folks).

The problem with replying with a hashtag, a comment or even an emoji, is that the simple reactions as a reply take over the feed.

If replies weren’t included in the feed, I believe we would see more simple reactions, which would result in a positive cycle of users creating more posts, getting more reactions, resulting in more posts.

Hello World

When a new community member makes their first peep, it should be a big event, with lots of replies and reactions.

Though what happens currently, is that once one member of the community has replied to a first peep, it feels like spamming the network to add further replies. This means that new users miss out on the welcome that they truly deserve.

Welcome replies to first peeps

Good morning wave

When I wake up in the morning I read through the overnight peeps and start replying. Potentially lots of replies. Suddenly the feed is taken over with my replies. Boring.

The same thing occurs when I check in later in the day. Another wave or replies.

The alternative currently is not to reply, which sadly is what I believe happens in many cases.

Peep storm

Peep storms tend not to happen, and when they do feel like spamming the feed due to replies being included.

I like to peep photos from a #PhotoWalk, and this would be a perfect use for a peep storm (reply per peep). Unfortunately, with each reply being shown in the feed, it actually feels less spammy to peep each photo individually. The result is that the feed is taken over, discouraging others from peeping.

Hot Chocolate education

Twitter has already spent the effort in educating users how microblogging works. Twitter has a home feed displaying tweets and retweets but not replies.

Peepeth has and will have differences from Twitter. Where the difference doesn’t add value to the user, then Peepeth misses out on the education that Twitter has provided users.

Adam Draper describes this Hot Chocolate education:

Threading

Peepeth doesn’t currently support displaying threads. Threads would be preferred but replies two deep can be displayed. The lack of threads shouldn’t be enough of a reason to continue showing replies in the feed.

Statistics

At this point, it would be nice to offer statistics on how many peeps get reactions to illustrate the case. I haven’t compiled them (yet). In an ideal world, every peep would get some reply or reaction, especially with the current community size.

Conclusion

Replies are not repeeps and should be treated differently. Excluding replies from the main feed should increase user engagement.

(Maybe I could have just made this argument as a peep)

About me

I started using Peepeth when it was on a testnet (thanks to @jrmoreau verifying on twitter). I was Peeper #7 on mainnet.

I am passionate about the benefits of decentralisation and use on mobile.