Plugin Request: Follow Anything

1. I actually filed a trac ticket for this over at the big site. The idea was well-received but they thought it would be post 1.3 before it was looked at. To me, this is a critical usability issue...so I'm explaining it here as well to see what you guys think.

   BP's new Follow function allows for following of members, which is great...but it doesn't go far enough.

   I'd like to be able to "Follow" anything. Forum threads, Groups, blog posts, blog comments, Galleries, Events, Custom Post Types, categories and tags, and maybe even members with specific characteristics in their profile fields. Heck, maybe even search results! This allows members to organize and follow everything they are interested in. Think of how much easier this would be over at BP to follow discussions!

   As an example, pretend over there you were interested in a Chat plugin. You could search "chat" and they follow the results. Now, you'll get updates of everything "chat" related, regardless if the entry has the proper tags or if it's filed in the right place.

   This could enable the sign-up options for new users to follow activity within their geography, or interest. It could also become the basis for an internal advertising system, with ads in the streams of people following specific topics or discussions.

   Importantly, this is intuitive. We're not asking members to learn something new, but allowing them to use a function they already know to make more sense of BP.

   Ideally, I'd like to see a "Follow Anything" plugin with an admin menu with checkboxes for everything available to follow. You could see what other members are following and each item could have a follower count (or not). Ideally, there would be a "Follow these search results" button on the unified search.

   Curious to hear what you guys think. I'm going to keep beating this drum to make it happen.

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   Greg Fielding
   

2. I've read your post in the BP.org forums, and I think this is an absolutely great idea! It's a very intuitive system which users can easily pick up.. I'm not sure how hard it is to make something like this, but I would love to see this happen.. +1

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   Bowe Frankema
   

3. I've been pondering the same thing over the past few weeks. With new post types available it's become imperative that I come up with a system where my users can 'subscribe' to content sitewide that interests them.

   The bp.org site itself is a great example of just how horrible the current situation is. For instance there are numerous forum threads and groups that I am interested in. The problem is that there is no single place that I can go on the site to see links to everything that I am interested in. Frankly the current system sucks.

   When you add in post types and multiblogs to the setup it gets even more confusing. I think some type of 'follow/subscribe' to anything is a very needed feature.

   I have no idea how to even start this project in a 'bp framework' but I do have a number of ideas to try in the standard wp environment. Namely, I was thinking about building a 'follow' plugin that would provide a link that can be placed on any post. That part would actually be fairly easy to implement.

   I'm actually thinking about using rss feeds on content types, where the user basically builds their own custom rss feed. This would make importing the information anywhere very easy, including a bp profile page.

   Then I would simply add a user profile page that outputs the results and allows the user to manage their interests. Allow them to remove ones they are not interested in anymore, etc.

   I'm sure others may have better ideas, but that is what I have so far.

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   shawn
   

4. It would be nice to have followed items show in the activity streams, then rss feeds for individual activity streams.

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   Greg Fielding
   

5. Greg, that's a nice Idea to have the ability to follow everything. the problem is showing the updates in activity.
   I checked Andy's plugin, and It can not be extended unless some database change is made. It assumes follow object to be user and showing activity of the persons you follow is easy as they are supposed to be users(not group/neigther post).

   What can be done:- If we can list all the type of objects which can be followed(for example in core, It can be groups,forums,posts/blogs etc) then we can filter the activity/updates for those items and show. But with the no. of plugins coming each day(say it wiki/links/gallery etc), It will need to allow other plugin developers to hook their plugins activity stream if any object is followed. That makes the things a little vague.

   So, what things you think is a must have for the Follow Everything plugin?
   -ability to follow all the core items(say group/forum/topic/post/blog/member) and.. ?
   -ability to allow other plugin authors to hook the follow functionality for their plugin functionality ?

   Please let me know your further view of this. Andy has already shown the light by making this plugin, hopefully we can do something for all items.

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   Brajesh Singh
   

6. Brajesh,
   I think it makes sense to follow core components: members, groups, forum discussions, blogs?, sub-blogs & posts?, etc. Then allow other plugin developers to hook the functionality in their plugins.

   I think this concept would be quickly embraced by the other devs.

   Posted 1 year ago #

   

   Greg Fielding
   

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