Apps & Consumer
Flipboard launches social websites for creators and publishers
Flipboard announced "social websites," a new feature allowing creators and publishers to consolidate content from across the open social web into a single, controlled destination.
On Thursday, Flipboard announced “social websites,” a new way for creators and publishers to build their own spaces on the web. These social websites are built around conversations taking place across the open social web, which refers to the ecosystem of decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other public web content. Through this new feature, creators and publishers can consolidate profiles and posts from platforms like Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and YouTube, alongside podcasts, blogs, and RSS feeds, into a single destination.
The launch of social websites marks the first web-based extension of Surf, Flipboard’s reader app, and these new spaces are powered by Surf feeds. Flipboard sees social websites as a new model for social media, where communities have more ownership and control over how content and conversations are organized. According to Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, “Social websites help podcasters, creators and publications build communities around their work and control the experience, including the algorithm.” McCue also explained that rather than starting a community from scratch, creators can use social websites to easily bring together the people and conversations that are already happening around their podcasts, videos, and newsletters across the social web.
Flipboard has already partnered with several publishers and creators who have established their own social websites. The partner publishers using the feature include:
- The Verge
- Wired
- Rolling Stone
- 404 Media
- The Oregonian
These publishers have created dedicated social websites where readers can follow journalists, podcasts, videos, and conversations in a single hub. Alongside these major publications, individual creator David Rushing built All Net, which is a social website designed for NBA fans that brings together basketball conversations, league news, videos, and real-time game commentary.
By combining content and conversations from across various social platforms, Flipboard explains that Surf social websites become destinations to keep up on anything a user is interested in. The company noted that this launch is just the beginning of the feature, with more customization tools on the way, including custom headers, colors, and additional feed management features.
Why it matters
Flipboard is positioning itself as a hub for the decentralized web, giving creators and publishers a way to own their community experience and algorithm rather than relying on a single platform’s feed.