Improve custom feed UX & discovery

[emilyliu7321]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

We can make discovery and UX of custom feeds more intuitive. Currently, when users add a new custom feed, they might not know what series of buttons to click to make it appear on their home page.

Describe the solution you'd like The For You devs @cooperedmunds @jetthollister @rjmpt mocked up some features that can improve this:

1. "Feeds ✨ " on the homepage for users to click into
2. Add a pin icon by saved feeds

Describe alternatives you've considered An alternative they suggested is: "the + button opening a menu with the option to save or to pin to home. I think default pinning aligns closest with expected behavior, but all options would decreases the probability that a user adds a feed and then is confused by not seeing it in their feed tab bar on the home screen."

Additional context

I chatted with both the For You devs + Bluesky product team about this and we're all on the same page that these are good ideas — creating this issue now so the two groups can chat directly! @pfrazee @ansh

[CooperEdmunds]

I'm planning to start with the "Feeds ✨" button in the feeds tab bar. It will render for users who do not yet have any pinned feeds. Tapping it will open the Feeds tab.

[CooperEdmunds]

I think this looks pretty cluttered, so now thinking that the best solution for the confusion of a feed not appearing on the tab bar is just to default pin the feed when they tap the "+" button. I think realizing that you want to unpin and then going to settings or the feed detail page is a more intuitive flow than not seeing the feed in your tab bar after believing you added it and then being lost. This protects against the worst case - someone not realizing that pinning to the feed tab bar is possible.

[CooperEdmunds]

First PR to pin a feed when it's added using the plus button on the "Discover new feeds" list is ready for review: #2030. Next adding the "Feeds ✨" button to the feeds bar bar for users who don't have any pinned feeds. @pfrazee @ansh

[pfrazee]

Great, will get that reviewed today (first scan looks good)

On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 8:49 AM Cooper Edmunds @.***> wrote:

First PR to pin a feed when it's added using the plus button on the "Discover new feeds" list is ready for review: #2030 https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/pull/2030. Next adding the "Feeds ✨" button to the feeds bar bar for users who don't have any pinned feeds. @pfrazee https://github.com/pfrazee @ansh https://github.com/ansh

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[CooperEdmunds]

2033 is ready for review