Prioritizing messages within a message network

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a system of one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a plurality of messages authored by posting users in a social messaging system having a plurality of users, wherein each of the received messages is a candidate for presentation to other users;
• displaying, to consumer users, messages provided by the social messaging system, in each respective consumer user's own stream of messages;
• receiving from users, in response to options presented to users within the social messaging system, inputs specifying what characteristics of messages are important to the respective users;
• creating additional streams of messages for presentation in addition to the users' own respective streams of messages based on the characteristics of messages specified as important to the respective users;
• receiving, from users, requests to subscribe to particular additional streams of messages in a manner similar to subscribing to posts from another user;
• displaying, to consumer users, messages from the respective additional streams of messages subscribed to by the consumer users;
• obtaining, for each message of a first additional stream of messages, observed interaction data, the observed interaction data representing interactions with the respective message by one or more users to whom the message has been presented;
• determining, for each message of the first additional stream of messages based on the respective interaction data, an interaction level indicating a likelihood that the respective message will be interesting to users of the social messaging system;
• ranking the messages of the first additional stream of messages based on the respective interaction levels of the messages;
• and
• sending a first message, to a first user subscribing to the first additional stream of messages from the first additional stream of messages, based on the ranking of the messages of the first additional stream of messages.

A method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of messages authored by posting users in a social messaging system having a plurality of users, wherein each of the received messages is a candidate for presentation to other users;
• displaying, to consumer users, messages provided by the social messaging system, in each respective consumer user's own stream of messages;
• receiving from users, in response to options presented to users within the social messaging system, inputs specifying what characteristics of messages are important to the respective users;
• creating additional streams of messages for presentation in addition to the users' own respective streams of messages based on the characteristics of messages specified as important to the respective users;
• receiving, from users, requests to subscribe to particular additional streams of messages in a manner similar to subscribing to posts from another user;
• displaying, to consumer users, messages from the respective additional streams of messages subscribed to by the consumer users;
• obtaining, for each message of a first additional stream of messages, observed interaction data, the observed interaction data representing interactions with the respective message by one or more users to whom the message has been presented;
• determining, for each message of the first additional stream of messages based on the respective interaction data, an interaction level indicating a likelihood that the respective message will be interesting to users of the social messaging system;
• ranking the messages of the first additional stream of messages based on the respective interaction levels of the messages;
• and
• sending a first message, to a first user subscribing to the first additional stream of messages from the first additional stream of messages, based on the ranking of the messages of the first additional stream of messages.