Flipboard has been one of the biggest boosters of decentralized social media. Now, the company, which is known for its social news reading app, is rolling out its latest experiment, "social websites."
The project offers publishers and creators an easier path into what's often called the "open social web," which includes the fediverse, as well as other protocol-based platforms like Blueksy. The company says it could also help creators of all stripes wrest back control of their audiences from mainstream social media platforms and other "walled gardens."
In practice, social websites are essentially microsites that allow creators and publishers to bring together posts from decentralized platforms and RSS feeds into a single place where people can browse blogposts, newsletters, podcast episodes alongside relevant commentary from Bluesky, Mastodon and other federated services. It's also the first web-based offshoot of Surf, Flipboard's reader app designed for the open social web.
The company has already teamed up with a handful of publishers and creators who have made their own "social websites" on top of Surf. For example, Rolling Stone created a dedicated site for its political coverage, which features posts from its writers alongside news stories. Creator David Rushing created a site called "All
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