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Following (Home tab)

On Home, open the Following sub-tab to see everything you follow — a durable inventory, not a chronological event log.

When you follow a specific question in someone's Shared Vision, a ballot contest, or an open forum, it appears here grouped by category. Leader activity surfaces as row metadata (a relative-time hint and an unread dot) and overflow actions — not as a separate feed list.

What you see

Items you follow are grouped into three sections (empty sections are hidden):

Section What it contains
Ballot Research Contest and measure questions you follow from published ballot research
Open Forums Open forums you joined after submitting an idea
Questions Everything else you follow from a leader's Shared Vision

Each row shows the question title and the leader's name. When there is recent activity, a relative-time hint (for example, "2 hours ago") may appear next to the leader name. Open-forum rows may also show a synthesis progress chip while the first summary is pending.

Rows with recent activity sort to the top within their section.

Opening row actions

  • Phone and tablet: Tap anywhere on the row to open the actions menu.
  • Desktop (wider screens): Use the overflow control (⋮) on the right — the row title itself is not a button.

Available actions depend on the item:

Action When it appears
View in context Always — opens the item in Shared Vision
View changes Unread leader vision update (Questions and Ballot Research)
View summary Unread open-forum synthesis
Unfollow Always

View in context navigates to the leader's Shared Vision at the followed branch. It does not clear unread badges.

Activity badges

A small dot on a row means there is unread activity since you last opened the relevant summary or change view.

  • Row taps and View in context do not clear the badge.
  • Choose View changes (leader vision updates) or View summary (open forum synthesis) when those actions appear in the menu; opening them clears the unread dot.

This keeps Following as a library of what you watch, with lightweight signals when something worth revisiting has happened.

Ballot Research

The Ballot Research section lists ballot contests and measures you follow. Use the print icon in the section header to open a printable snapshot of every contest and measure you follow.

Use View in context to open a followed contest or measure in Shared Vision.

Open Forums

When you sign up after submitting to an open forum, the forum appears under Open Forums.

While the first forum summary is still pending, a chip on the row may show progress (for example, 3 of 5 for first summary). When the summary is ready and unread, choose View summary from the actions menu to read the grouped responses.

For the full open-forum workflow, see civic-listening.md.

How to find things to follow

  1. Open Civic Ladder and pick your area.
  2. Browse Thinkers for leaders publishing in that place.
  3. Open a leader's Shared Vision, find a question you care about, and tap Follow this question.
  4. For ballot contests, use Home → Elections or ballot research discovery, then follow specific races or measures.
  5. For open forums, submit an idea on a listening-session link; signing up adds the forum to Open Forums.