What is freshness?
Freshness is a measure of how recent a signal is. Recent signals score higher than older ones, even when both clear the minimum threshold to qualify. It is the engine’s preference for current evidence over stale evidence.
Why does freshness matter?
Because demand is a moving thing, and old evidence describes a store that may no longer exist. A product that was selling fast last week but has gone quiet should not be messaged as if it is still surging. Freshness keeps messaging tied to what is happening now, not what happened recently enough to still technically count.
How does freshness affect which message wins?
It is one of the components of the message score. When two candidate messages are otherwise comparable, the one drawn from more recent activity scores higher. This is why a “right now” or “in the last hour” message tends to beat an “in the last 7 days” message whenever both are available — the engine surfaces the most current credible evidence.
How is freshness different from a threshold?
A threshold is a fixed floor — does the signal have enough evidence to qualify at all? Freshness is a sliding preference — among signals that all qualify, how recent is this one? A week-old signal and an hour-old signal can both clear the same threshold; freshness is what separates them.
See freshness in the platform
The engine favours the most recent credible signal when choosing what to show.