Any direction
Portrait needed a feed once we expanded into social. Vertical feeds are built like casino machines. One small thumb flick, variable reward. Sometimes funny, sometimes nothing, sometimes perfect ragebait. The algorithm watches what you linger on and what you tap, then feeds you more of the same. This is the dopamine loop we call doomscrolling. When your company mission is to enable autonomy in everyday internet usage, you have to ask: how do you build a feed that enables autonomy instead of undermining it?
Markets don't reward sermons
Markets do not reward principles. They reward what holds attention and value. So the honest move is not to fight the reward loop. It is to redesign it while staying true to the mission.
Any direction
The first prototype let you swipe from the center of the screen in any direction. Full 360 degrees. The physical motion is almost identical to normal scrolling, but the outcome is unknown until your thumb finishes the gesture. That small uncertainty creates a noticeably stronger response with almost no extra effort.
Normal feed
One axis only. The feed moves vertically and keeps handing you the next post in the same lane.
Any direction
Drag the feed in any direction. The momentum keeps carrying the grid along that angle, and the forward cone becomes denser and swaps into a different content cluster, so the algorithm serves different posts in the direction you are heading.
Four directions as signals
The next version adds quiet structure. Once you start moving, the space splits into four rough quadrants. Each direction becomes its own weak signal to the algorithm. It can only serve one thematic cluster per quadrant at a time. Drift top-right and it learns that is your current mood. Shift bottom-left and it gives you deliberate novelty. It starts to feel like steering instead of falling.
Centering what lands
If a post really hits, you tap it and it snaps to the center. The quadrants then radiate out from that post. Some directions show similar content to keep the reward, others show fresh experiments to keep exploration alive. The system stays visible. There is no black-box For You page pretending it knows your soul. Only levers you can see and move.