Flipboard simply launched Surf, which is form of like an RSS feed for the open social net

The corporate behind the information app Flipboard , which is form of like an RSS feed for the open social web. The app permits customers to create feeds that pull from the open social net, together with providers like Mastodon and Bluesky. It additionally sources content material from blogs, podcasts and YouTube movies.

Flipboard CEO Mike McCue calls it a “browser for the social net” and that description . Surf helps a complete bunch of open protocols, together with RSS, Bluesky’s AT Protocol and ActivityPub. That final one is used to energy decentralized platforms like Mastodon, Threads, Pixelfed, PeerTube and Friendica, amongst others. This follows , which allowed for full interoperability with Mastodon and different decentralized networks.

The app has been in growth for practically two years and lets customers construct customized feeds utilizing a mixture of sources. In the event you wished to comply with a distinct segment matter like, say, 3D printing, you might add notable folks to a feed, together with hashtags, particular RSS feeds, most well-liked podcasts and extra. As of the preliminary beta launch, Surf comes with 30,000 predefined matters to discover. Customized feeds may also discover a number of matters directly, to personalize issues.

The app’s house web page features a large swath of curated feeds to comply with which might be organized into sections like Featured, Trending, Communities and Skilled Voices. Feeds are configurable in a variety of methods, which lets customers embrace or exclude stuff like replies, reposts or mature content material. Fortunately, the order of the feed can be totally adjustable, with an choice for a Twitter-like timeline.

This sounds fairly cool proper? One of many important issues on this new period of the social net, during which the , is the shortage of a centralized hub. This appears to be like to unravel that drawback to some extent.

Now a spot of dangerous information. Surf is technically out there proper now, however solely as an invite-only, closed beta. In the event you can come up with a kind of invitations, the app is offered for each iOS and Android, with a desktop consumer coming quickly.