In the same vein, I was thinking to add "toggle buttons" at the top of the feed, one for each follow. Each would have the name and in paranthesis the number of new posts. Buttons sorted by no. of new posts.

Un-selecting one would hide all new notes from that contact.

Because of the 80/20 rule, a few profiles will have most of the new replies. So un-selecting a couple of them would free up the view.