Flipboard’s new ‘social sites’ help publishers and creators tap into the open social web

Flipboard on Thursday was announced social sites, a new way for creators and publishers to create their own spaces on the web.

These social websites they build on conversations already happening on the open social web, which includes decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other public web content.

Social networking sites bring together social posts, videos, podcasts, newsletters and other conversations into a single, creator-controlled destination, Flipboard says. You can consolidate profiles and posts from Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, YouTube, podcasts, blogs and RSS feeds into a single destination.

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

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

The launch of the social networking sites marks the first online extension of Surf, Flipboard’s reading app that lets users browse and explore the open social web. The company notes that social networking sites are powered by Surf streams.

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

To create a Surf Stream, users must go to surf.social, sign up, and click “+ Create Stream” in the sidebar. They must then follow the prompts to add sources, assign a community hashtag, and set filters to customize their feed.

Once the stream is set up, the owner can assign a custom domain via the three-dot menu in the stream header to create a social site that can be shared with others. Flipboard says social networking sites are designed to live beyond Surf, as they can be shared across the web.

“By combining content and conversations from various social platforms, Surf social sites become destinations to keep track of 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 stream management features.”