Read/seen ranking

When track_read or track_seen is enabled on a feed group, you can use is_read and is_seen as variables in ranking expressions. On flat content feeds, enable them with activity_marks; notification feeds use their notification configuration. On content feeds, the ranking expression may only reference is_read or is_seen when the matching activity_marks.track_read or activity_marks.track_seen is enabled, otherwise creating or updating the feed group fails with ranking by read/seen status requires notification config or matching activity_marks tracking. Notification feeds can always rank by is_read and is_seen.

A mark only applies to activities created at or before the time it was set. On aggregated notification feeds, a group that is updated after it was marked counts as unread or unseen again.

Info:

Ranking by is_read / is_seen is only available on Enterprise plans. Contact support to enable this feature for your organization.

For example, a custom flat feed group that sorts by popularity and subtracts 100 points from activities the user has read:

require 'getstream_ruby'

client.feeds.create_feed_group(
  GetStream::Generated::Models::CreateFeedGroupRequest.new(
    id: 'ranked_timeline',
    activity_marks: GetStream::Generated::Models::ActivityMarksConfig.new(
      track_seen: true,
      track_read: true
    ),
    activity_selectors: [
      GetStream::Generated::Models::ActivitySelectorConfig.new(type: 'following')
    ],
    ranking: GetStream::Generated::Models::RankingConfig.new(
      type: 'expression',
      score: 'popularity - (is_read ? 100 : 0)'
    )
  )
)

To rank unseen activities first instead (this does not include popularity):

require 'getstream_ruby'

client.feeds.create_feed_group(
  GetStream::Generated::Models::CreateFeedGroupRequest.new(
    id: 'unseen_timeline',
    activity_marks: GetStream::Generated::Models::ActivityMarksConfig.new(
      track_seen: true,
      track_read: true
    ),
    activity_selectors: [
      GetStream::Generated::Models::ActivitySelectorConfig.new(type: 'following')
    ],
    ranking: GetStream::Generated::Models::RankingConfig.new(
      type: 'expression',
      score: 'is_seen ? 0 : 100'
    )
  )
)

The same expressions work on notification feeds, where marks may be resolved per activity or aggregated group.

Example expressions

Expression Effect
is_seen ? 0 : 100 Unseen activities ranked first
is_read ? 0 : 100 Unread activities ranked first
popularity - (is_read ? 10 : 0) Penalize read activities by 10 points
popularity - (is_read ? 10 : 0) - (is_seen ? 5 : 0) Penalize both read and seen activities
(is_seen ? 0 : 1000) + decay_linear(time) Unseen activities first, with time decay

Aggregated feeds

On aggregated notification feeds, is_read and is_seen are resolved at the group level. All activities within an aggregated group share the same read/seen status. On flat feeds (content feeds with activity_marks, and flat notification feeds), they are resolved per activity. Content feeds with aggregation can't use activity_marks, so they can't rank by read/seen status.

Info:

Ranking by is_read / is_seen on content feeds requires matching activity_marks.track_read / activity_marks.track_seen configuration. activity_marks cannot be combined with notification, aggregation, or stories configuration.