Is there a way to programmatically create a follow relationship between two users?

Web
1

I’m trying to make follow requests work more similar to the Facebook friends architecture, where after a request is accepted, the relationship is created bidirectionally, but I havent found a way to create follow relationships with the API. Is there some other way to achieve what I’m trying to do?

2

Hello @tahmeednabi our product already supports follow/unfollow feature, here’s our docs: Follow / Unfollow - Amity Docs , is this what you are looking for?

3

Yes I’m using that feature, but trying to create follow requests between users server side, so that I can make it work like the facebook friends relationships. To be more clear:

Default amity follow method:
User A requests to follow User B, User B can accept or reject. User B has to then follow User B back, which User A needs to also accept or reject.

Method I’m looking for
User A requests to follow User B. User B can accept or reject. If accepted, User B automatically also follows User A and is automatically accepted.

To achieve this I wanted to see if there was some way to create that follow relationship given two user IDs by calling some sort of API.

4

In this case, we would recommend you to follow this flow:

  • After user A accepts a follow request from user B, then at the same time, call the follow function for user A to follow user B back (this will result as an auto-follow)
  • You can filter/observe this event on frontend
5

Thanks for getting back to me so quick.

I think I’ve implemented the system as you’ve described, however I’m not observing the “auto-follow” behaviour you’re describing. I’m using the typescript SDK to run a query to accept the request from a user and follow them back at the same time, as shown in code below:

const query1 = createQuery(acceptFollower, userId);
await runQuery(query1);
const query2 = createQuery(follow, userId);
return runQuery(query2);

However, as I said the auto-follow isnt working, and instead the user needs to accept the follow request themselves. Let me know If I’ve done something wrong. Thanks!

6

Hi @tahmeednabi after discussing with the team, we would recommend you to use Without Request process instead, please see the docs here https://docs.amity.co/social/typescript-react-native/follow-unfollow#user-connection-method-concept

Please let us know if this can achieve what you want to do?

7

In that case, if User A follows User B, wouldn’t posts by User B be visible to User A (in their social feed), automatically, without their approval?

8

Yes, if user A follow user B, user B’s posts will automatically be visible to user A