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

Flipboard on Thursday 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 already taking place across the open social web, which includes decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other public web content.

Social websites bring together social posts, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and other conversations into a single destination that creators control, 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 websites 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 over the last few years, is now looking to make it easier for publishers and creators to access the open social web.

“Social websites help 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. “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.”

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

Flipboard has already partnered with publishers and creators who have created their own social websites. 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 conversations, 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. They then need to follow the prompts to add sources, assign a community hashtag, and set filters to customize their feed.

Once the feed is set up, the owner can assign a custom domain via the feed header’s three-dot menu to create a social website that they can share with others. Flipboard says social websites are designed to live beyond Surf, as they can be shared across the web. 

“By combining content and conversations from across social platforms, Surf social websites become destinations to keep up on anything you’re interested in,” Flipboard explains. “And this is just the beginning. More customization tools are on the way, including custom headers, colors and additional feed management features.”