1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a content item authored by a first user and that is to be displayed in a stream corresponding to a second user in a web-based application, the received content item associated with a social networking service and having an associated time stamp; determining a recentness score of the content item based on the time stamp; determining an affinity score representing an affinity of the first user to the second user; determining a popularity score of the content item based on user interactions with the content item; and generating a quality score of the content item based on the recentness score of the content item and a combination of the affinity score and the popularity score of the content item, the generating the quality score comprising: adjusting the affinity score of the content item by a popularity score factor; adjusting the popularity score of the content item by an affinity score factor; and utilizing a higher of the adjusted affinity score and the adjusted popularity score as a factor in generating the quality score.