Flipboard’s new “Social Web” helps publishers and creators take advantage of the open social web

Flipboard on Thursday announced Social Media, a new way for creators and publishers to build their own spaces on the web.

These social websites are built around conversations already taking place across the open social web, which includes decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other public web content.

Flipboard says the social media site brings together social posts, videos, podcasts, newsletters and other conversations into one creator-controlled destination. You can consolidate profiles and posts from Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, YouTube, podcasts, blogs, and RSS feeds into one destination.

Flipboard sees social media as a new model for social media, where communities have more ownership and control over how content and conversations are curated. The company, which has embraced decentralized social media over the past few years, is now looking to make it easier for publishers and creators to access the open social web.

“Social media helps podcasters, creators and publications build communities around their work and control the experience, including the algorithm,” Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said in a blog post. “Instead of starting a community from scratch, creators can use social media to easily bring together the people and conversations already happening around their podcasts, videos, and newsletters across the social web.”

The social media launch marks the first web extension for Surf, Flipboard’s reader app that allows users to browse and explore the open social web. The company notes that social media sites are powered by Surf feeds.

Flipboard has already partnered with publishers and creators who have created their own social media sites. Publishers, including The Verge, Wired, Rolling Stone, 404 Media, and The Oregonian, have created social websites where readers can follow journalists, podcasts, videos, and conversations in one hub. Creator David Rushing created All Net, a social website for NBA fans that brings together basketball talk, league news, videos, and real-time game commentary.

To create a Surf Feed, users need to go to surf.social, sign up, and click the “+ Create Feed” option in the sidebar. Then, they need to follow the prompts to add sources, set a hashtag for the community, and set filters to customize their feed.

Once the feed is set up, the owner can set a custom domain via the three-dot menu in the feed header to create a social website that they can share with others. Flipboard says social media is designed to live outside of Surf, where it can be shared across the web.

“By bringing together content and conversations from across social media platforms, Surf Social Sites become destinations where you can follow anything that interests you,” explains Flipboard. “And this is just the beginning. More customization tools are on the way, including custom headers, colors, and additional feed management features.”