A method of setting controls on a digital communication device operated by an end user of a digital communication network includes operating a gesture user interface on a set of content representations displayed on the digital communication device, where the set of content representations represents digital content associated with a broad range of content categories, to operate a preference profile generator to generate an initial control set for a ranking control. A tracking control is operated in the digital communication network to track activity of the digital communication device in a context of a digital content event to modify the initial control set for the ranking control into modified ranking controls. The modified ranking controls and content inputs from a digital content manager are applied to operate the ranking control and digital filter to generate a control interface for the digital communication device, the control interface comprising a plurality of individually operable controls. The digital communication device is configured with the control interface.