Timeline Feature

[QuirkyRobots]

Turning LBRY Into a True Free Speech Platform

This is an idea I proposed several months ago in the community, which you can find here.

It would be awesome to have a timeline section so that LBRY/Odysee could function better as a social media platform. It already has this capability, but the UI is more geared towards just videos atm. However, having a social media style timeline would really take it to the next level.

Compete with Facebook

This would enable LBRY to compete against the social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which have more active users than YouTube.

This would really assist LBRY's vision of being the best free speech platform in the world.

Works with Community Made Tools

This feature would tie in perfectly with the LBRY, social media tools, being developed by members of the community, such as Vlad's Instagram Backup tool.

And finally, it would mean @seanyesmunt wouldn't have to go through the terrible ordeal of having to post to Facebook anymore. Imagine how many other lives could be improved around the world because of this. It would be like the next MySpace to Facebook ultra migration and the world would be a better place. No more relying on BigTech to control our lives. Hallelujah!

[VladHZC]

I support this idea. LBRY protocol should be the life-boat of all content on internet. Would be awesome if LBRY had a full experience like that.

[SensoricaTech]

It's a fantastic idea!!! I support it. ;)

[ikill4food2]

Incredible idea! No reason not to do this! A NON-BORING timeline that actually allows animated GIFs & embedded video would be fun and enjoyable to use!

[LBRYansUnited]

Love it!

[QuirkyRobots]

There's a growing market that's perfect for LBRY.

[henk717]

I like the idea, but we could be more dynamic about this and allow users more control over what kind of experience they wish LBRY to be. To do this my alternative proposal is as follows.

• Upgrade the list view to allow the expansion of content, that way the titles become like microblogs and clicking on the expand button it would allow the content to show inside the page, complete with buttons to like and comment (You can also add an option in the settings to do this by default without having to click the arrow, and then default to what most users like best). This keeps it neat and allows interaction completely within the feed. It creates a more twitter like experience, mixed with a youtube and a facebook style experience since you can expand for the full content or use it as the list we have now.
• Add this timeline style view as a view option, the list view is then formatted in a similar way you are showing with the first segments of a post, embedded video player, or image shown by default along with these buttons underneath and an option to expand this to the full length of the post if the post is larger than the given area.
• Keep the existing grid view as it is for people who like the YouTube style experience (I'd also leave this default at least on Odysee).
• Add optional player controls at the bottom of the page during navigation so it becomes easy to pause videos that are still playing in the background, this would make it more like soundcloud for people who prefer audio content to play in the background as they interact with these other elements of the site and would give a boost to the audio only content experience.

This eliminates the concept of a dedicated timeline tab, and instead incorporates the preferred view modes across the site. Then, you could also allow setting a view mode per category and allow the users to create their own categories where they can opt in and out of content customizing the site for what works best for them both based on the tags but also based on the content types and specific channels. You might want to have a tab intended for these tweet style microblogs, one for your video subscriptions, and another for gaming live streams, and a third tab for audio podcasts with the 4th for written blogs from your family members.

I think it would give ultimate freedom to the user on how they would wish to use this platform, all you would then have to do is provide sensible default tabs similar to your mock-up screenshot based on the popular experiences people expect. So users are not instantly overwhelmed by all the choices.