One feed, several kinds of content
The dashboard is designed to mix several useful sources without allowing one source to consume the entire experience. Native member posts, creator updates, crawler-produced news summaries, and posts from a member's connected social accounts each enter through a different path. The feed identifies those paths internally so it can preserve variety and avoid repeating the same author or news domain too often.
Community resources are handled differently. Jobs, local events, training, county services, and Michigan Works information belong in Community by default. A community post may still appear on the dashboard when it comes from a friend or followed account, because that relationship is a meaningful reason for the post to travel beyond its local section.
What affects order
Freshness matters, but it is not the only signal. Comments, likes, views, visual media, creator status, and a member's friendship or follow relationship can add relevance. Crawler posts receive a modest discovery signal when they include a usable source and image; thin crawler items without a visual are reduced. A small time-based exploration factor changes the order periodically so newer voices are not permanently trapped beneath accounts that already have large engagement totals.
The home mix intentionally gives creator material frequent opportunities while keeping crawler reporting and ordinary member posts present. This is a distribution pattern, not a promise that every member will see the same items in the same order. The result changes as new posts arrive and as each member builds relationships and filter preferences.
Filters act before display
SociaBlend content filters compare the flags attached to a post with the tolerance settings saved by the viewer. Topics such as politics, violence, hate speech, adult material, spam, profanity, trigger words, and graphic content can be adjusted independently. Lower tolerance means stricter filtering. Blocking an account is separate from topic filtering and removes that account from relationship and discovery paths.
New accounts begin with all content categories available so the controls have a complete starting point. A member can then narrow the feed deliberately instead of discovering later that an unseen default subscription prevented a filter from behaving as expected.
Connected accounts and source clarity
When a member links an outside account, supported provider content can be synced into that member's Source Deck and mixed into the dashboard at the percentage they choose. Connected content remains labeled with its provider and points back to the original item. Linking an account does not turn SociaBlend into the owner of that material, and provider permissions can limit which posts are available.
A healthy source mix depends on working provider authorization, current access tokens, and the permissions approved for the SociaBlend app. If a provider connection becomes identity-only, the account can remain linked while feed syncing pauses until the required read permission is available.
How sponsored placements fit
Sponsored material is labeled and delivered through a separate weighted pool. Active paid creator and advertiser campaigns receive more distribution weight according to plan or campaign priority. Rayleway Digital house campaigns remain as low-weight backfill so an empty ad position never looks broken. Google ad units use their own labeled placement and can remain disabled in private feeds while a site review is underway.
No sponsored item should imitate a member action, cover navigation, or require an accidental click to continue. Promotion can affect the chance of entering a sponsored slot, but it does not remove content filters or convert a sponsored item into an ordinary friend post.