Understanding Your Feed: A Quick Guide

What is a feed?

A feed is a stream of content that is delivered in a continuous, scrollable list. It can be a blog's RSS feed, a social media timeline, or an email newsletter. The common thread is that you receive new items in a curated order, often tailored to your interests.

How a feed decides what to show

Feeds combine new content from sources you follow with recommendations based on your activity. This can include topics you like, people you follow, or engagement signals such as likes, comments, and shares.

Where feeds come from

Firms collect content from publishers, creators, or partners, or generate it themselves. Technical formats like RSS feed XML or JSON-based APIs power most feeds.

How feeds work today

Today’s feeds mix real-time updates with longer-term recommendations. Algorithms weigh freshness, relevance, and user behavior to rank items.

Algorithms and signals

Signals include your interactions, time spent, and the content’s popularity. These drive the order in which items appear.

Privacy and data

Feeds rely on data about your behavior. It\'s worth knowing what is collected and how it is used.

Types of feeds

• RSS feeds: lightweight feeds for subscribing to content from websites.
• Social media feeds: continuous streams of posts from people and pages you follow.
• Email newsletters: curated digests delivered to your inbox.

Choosing the right feed for you

Consider how often you want updates, what topics matter, and how much control you want over recommendations.

How to customize your feed

• Follow or subscribe to sources you care about.
• Mute or unfollow to reduce unwanted content.
• Use feedback options (like 'See fewer posts like this') to fine-tune recommendations.
• Review your privacy and ad settings to limit data use.

Practical steps

Check the feed’s settings, refresh, and periodically audit your followed sources to keep it fresh.

Tips for a better feed experience

• Diversify sources to avoid echo chambers.
• Schedule time blocks for scrolling to prevent information overload.
• Be mindful of privacy: understand what data your feed collects.