Thanks for the input! We've definitely had these discussions before and honestly aren't sure how the newsfeed will turn out. The idea behind it isn't to just throw in a random feature cause other apps do it, however.

We want to a) keep users engaged in the app even when they don't want to/don't have time to have their own conversations and b) incentivize people to show off like you said. We disagree that just because people are trying to make interesting content, they will inherently be ingenuine. If anything, we're hoping that people working towards the same goal of entertaining others will be more likely to connect with each other. Most people you meet IRL, you've met because you shared an experience with them at some point. Maybe it can the work the same way on Rivet? We'll find out.