How to follow
Explains what follow does, what you can follow, and how to follow or unfollow.
Follow lets you choose, per space, whether posts from a user or community appear in the Home news feed. It is separate from friend relationships and community membership.
What follow does
Section titled “What follow does”Posts from user spaces and community spaces you follow appear in the Home news feed, newest first. On Home, the source filter buttons use follow as follows:
| Button | Posts shown |
|---|---|
| Users | Posts from users you follow (including your own) |
| Communities | Posts from communities you follow |
See Home and notes for details.
When someone follows you, you receive a notification in Notifications.
What you can follow
Section titled “What you can follow”You can follow these spaces:
- User spaces (other users’ profiles)
- Community spaces
You can follow public spaces even if you are not a member. For restricted or private spaces, only participants of that space can follow.
You cannot follow spaces of users you have blocked or who have blocked you.
How follow differs from friends and membership
Section titled “How follow differs from friends and membership”| Relationship | Main meaning |
|---|---|
| Follow | Receive that space’s posts in the Home news feed |
| Friend | A mutual connection after a request and acceptance. Lets you post to and view each other’s notes, use chat, and more |
| Community member | Membership in a community. Lets you post to and view notes limited to that community’s members |
If you are a community member but turn follow off, that community’s posts are not included in the Home feed. Conversely, on public communities you can follow posts without being a member.
Follow and unfollow
Section titled “Follow and unfollow”- Open the user or community space you want to follow.
- Press Follow posts. The follow state updates immediately.
- To unfollow, press Unfollow posts in the same place.
On spaces you have not joined, buttons such as join appear alongside Follow posts. On spaces you have already joined, you see the follow on/off control.
Followers and Following on the Friends screen
Section titled “Followers and Following on the Friends screen”On the Friends screen of your space or a friend’s space, you can open the following tabs in addition to the friends list. Community spaces do not have these tabs.
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Followers | People who follow that user, excluding friends |
| Following | People that user follows, excluding friends |
Friends appear under the All Friends tab. Becoming friends automatically follows each other, but friends are not included in Followers or Following.
The Following tab lists users only. Communities you follow do not appear there.
You can set the visibility of the Friends, Followers, and Following lists to public, friends only, or private in the space settings.