{"id":1861939,"date":"2026-04-02T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1861939"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:00:00","slug":"flipboards-social-websites-are-a-new-spin-on-decentralized-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1861939","title":{"rendered":"Flipboard&#8217;s &#8216;social websites&#8217; are a new spin on decentralized social media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/YeBJ23PaHwbdklTpK4Ok_A&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/surf_social_websites__7776.jpeg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-7add8cdd-2310-418b-91c7-32437bde298d\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto flex flex-row justify-between md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<div class=\"min-w-0 flex-1 self-start\" data-i13n-boundary=\"true\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<nav class=\"relative mx-4 mb-4 border-b pb-4 md:mx-0 md:mb-6 md:max-w-[750px] md:pb-6\" aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<ol class=\"no-scrollbar overflow-scroll whitespace-nowrap text-battleship\">\n<li class=\"inline\">\n<li class=\"inline-block cursor-default last:pr-10 md:last:pr-20 font-bold\">Social media<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<header class=\"mb-4 px-4 md:mb-6 md:max-w-[750px] md:px-0\">\n<h1 class=\"layout-h1 my-2 font-bold leading-tight\">Flipboard&#8217;s &#8216;social websites&#8217; are a new spin on decentralized social media<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"rightrail-h2-subheadline my-2 text-[18px] font-light leading-5 md:text-[20px]\/[28px]\">The company has been all-in on the social web. Now it wants to bring publishers along too.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"flex-col items-start lg:flex lg:flex-row lg:items-center lg:justify-between mt-6\">\n<div class=\"relative md:mr-[10px]\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-2\">\n<div class=\"shrink-0 cursor-pointer inline-block size-[42px]\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt role=\"img\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full rounded-full object-cover object-center shadow-[0_0_0_2px_#ffffff]\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/eOQDk3a.ZcPrsepE4Oylww--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/o.aolcdn.com\/images\/dims?image_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fo.aolcdn.com%2Fimages%2Fdims%3Fimage_uri%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fs.yimg.com%252Fos%252Fcreatr-uploaded-images%252F2024-02%252F55cbf240-cb77-11ee-bbda-2ec0c01145be%26compress%3D1%26progressive%3D1%26quality%3D75%26client%3Dhawkeye%26signature%3Dab727c9e8e4e10168d96302907ce9deadba54024&amp;compress=1&amp;progressive=1&amp;quality=75&amp;client=hawkeye&amp;signature=aa31fc69a237b9561663018fc2d999c87d99b08a\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-block\">\n<div class=\"w-max text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] font-semibold flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col\">\n<div class=\"flex w-max items-center\">Karissa Bell<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"font-normal sm:before:inline-block\">Senior reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text-[0.75rem] text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] lg:pt-[5px]\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-02T15:00:00.000Z\">Thu, April 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-0 mt-4 flex items-center lg:ml-3 lg:mt-0\">\n<div class=\"ml-0 mr-2\">\n<div class=\"relative flex\">Add Engadget on Google<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"mx-4 md:mx-0\">\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-[[fullbleed-start_body-start]_minmax(auto,750px)_[body-end_fullbleed-end]]\">\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative overflow-hidden fig-image-round \"><img decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"object-cover object-center\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/cdk8ezmt5eIrq7C_Pl4gbQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02OTk-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/uu\/api\/res\/1.2\/R9_PoHE0sR8M0BCcL0ewTQ--~B\/aD0xMDgwO3c9MTkyMDthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/surf_social_websites__7776.jpeg\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Flipboard wants to make it easier for publishers to access the open social web.<\/span><span> (flipboard)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:max-w-[750px] md:grid-cols-article\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">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, &#8220;social websites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The project offers publishers and creators an easier path into what&#8217;s often called the &#8220;open social web,&#8221; 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 &#8220;walled gardens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">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&#8217;s also the first web-based offshoot of Surf, Flipboard&#8217;s reader app designed for the open social web.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_kgb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_14gb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The company has already teamed up with a handful of publishers and creators who have made their own &#8220;social websites&#8221; on top of Surf. For example, <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> created a dedicated site for its political coverage, which features posts from its writers alongside news stories. Creator David Rushing created a site called &#8220;All Net&#8221; inspired by the NBA fan community on Threads. All Net features Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon posts, alongside clips from NBA podcasters and creators on YouTube. Fans can not just follow along the feeds of these social websites, but can join in the conversation around the posts from disparate platforms in a single space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;The social web is really promising and really awesome, but it is kind of complex and it&#8217;s hard to use,&#8221; Flipboard CEO Mike McCue tells Engadget. &#8220;What we&#8217;re trying to do is actually make it [so] like in 15 minutes you can make one of these communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Eliminating complexity is definitely something the wider protocol-based social web could benefit from. And the Surf website is refreshingly free of words like &#8220;protocol&#8221; and &#8220;federation.&#8221; You can see content from Mastodon, Pixelfed (the fediverse version of Instagram), PeerTube (fediverse YouTube) without ever having to log in and figure out how to use those platforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">But there&#8217;s also a lot of upside for individual publishers and creators, according to McCue. He&#8217;s had a front-row seat to the years of volatile dynamics between publishers and social media platforms thanks to Flipboard. &#8220;They are really done with investing in yet another audience on yet another billionaire&#8217;s platform where the discovery is totally black-boxed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Creators and publishers are looking for some way to basically take social media back, to own their own communities and their own relationships with their audience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_pgb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_19gb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Whether this experiment will result in meaningful traffic to publishers is less clear. The rise of Twitter alternatives hasn&#8217;t always resulted in traffic gains to websites, which are also grappling with increasing pressure from AI search. For now, Flipboard has just ten social websites from publishers, though anyone can now start to tinker with the site and make their own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"hidden flex-none md:block ml-8\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full flex-col flex-nowrap\">\n<div class=\"flex-auto\">\n<div class=\"sticky flex flex-none\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_sj7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:max-w-[750px] md:grid-cols-article\">\n<div class=\"no-scrollbar col-body mx-4 mb-8 mt-2.5 overflow-x-scroll whitespace-nowrap md:mx-0 md:max-w-[750px] md:overflow-x-visible\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-screen-sm\">\n<ul class=\"inline-flex text-xs md:text-sm\">\n<li class=\"mr-6\">About our ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:max-w-[750px] md:grid-cols-article\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">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, &#8220;social websites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The project offers publishers and creators an easier path into what&#8217;s often called the &#8220;open social web,&#8221; 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 &#8220;walled gardens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">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&#8217;s also the first web-based offshoot of Surf, Flipboard&#8217;s reader app designed for the open social web.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_kgb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_14gb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The company has already teamed up with a handful of publishers and creators who have made their own &#8220;social websites&#8221; on top of Surf. For example, <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> created a dedicated site for its political coverage, which features posts from its writers alongside news stories. Creator David Rushing created a site called &#8220;All Net&#8221; inspired by the NBA fan community on Threads. All Net features Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon posts, alongside clips from NBA podcasters and creators on YouTube. Fans can not just follow along the feeds of these social websites, but can join in the conversation around the posts from disparate platforms in a single space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;The social web is really promising and really awesome, but it is kind of complex and it&#8217;s hard to use,&#8221; Flipboard CEO Mike McCue tells Engadget. &#8220;What we&#8217;re trying to do is actually make it [so] like in 15 minutes you can make one of these communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Eliminating complexity is definitely something the wider protocol-based social web could benefit from. And the Surf website is refreshingly free of words like &#8220;protocol&#8221; and &#8220;federation.&#8221; You can see content from Mastodon, Pixelfed (the fediverse version of Instagram), PeerTube (fediverse YouTube) without ever having to log in and figure out how to use those platforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">But there&#8217;s also a lot of upside for individual publishers and creators, according to McCue. He&#8217;s had a front-row seat to the years of volatile dynamics between publishers and social media platforms thanks to Flipboard. &#8220;They are really done with investing in yet another audience on yet another billionaire&#8217;s platform where the discovery is totally black-boxed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Creators and publishers are looking for some way to basically take social media back, to own their own communities and their own relationships with their audience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_pgb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_19gb7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Whether this experiment will result in meaningful traffic to publishers is less clear. The rise of Twitter alternatives hasn&#8217;t always resulted in traffic gains to websites, which are also grappling with increasing pressure from AI search. For now, Flipboard has just ten social websites from publishers, though anyone can now start to tinker with the site and make their own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/social-media\/flipboards-social-websites-are-a-new-spin-on-decentralized-social-media-150000323.html&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/YeBJ23PaHwbdklTpK4Ok_A&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/surf_social_websites__7776.jpeg&#8221;] Social media Flipboard&#8217;s &#8216;social websites&#8217; are a new spin on decentralized social media The company has been all-in on the social web. Now it wants to bring publishers along too. Karissa Bell Senior reporter Thu, April 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC Add Engadget on Google Flipboard wants to make it easier [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,63],"class_list":["post-1861939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-engadget-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1861939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1861939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1861939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1861939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}