The Fediverse is a little bit bigger today, as Flipboard publishes over 1,000 social magazines on a decentralized social web, allowing curators and publishers to reach new audiences. The news follows an announcement in December that the magazine app would begin integrating directly with Fediverse, a decentralized social web that includes X competitors Mastodon, PixelFed, and other apps.
Sensing a shift in the direction of social media, Flipboard discontinued support for Twitter/X in its app last year. Users can now curate content from around the web into “magazines” and share them with other readers. Instead of Twitter, the company embraced decentralized social media, becoming the first app last May to support Bluesky, Mastodon, and Pixelfed (his open source Instagram rival) all in one place.
These initial integrations allowed users to read, like, reply, and post to their favorite apps from within the Flipboard app, but these interactions are now possible through the API. became. Late last year, Flipboard announced it was adding support for ActivityPub, the networking protocol that powers Fediverse, within its app. Initially, this will make selected accounts discoverable and trackable by millions of users of decentralized social apps, including Mastodon.
Today, Flipboard announced that it has federated 1,000 publisher-selected magazines that began testing in December, as well as 20 new publisher partners who have joined the new initiative. The magazines span a wide range of topics, including news, lifestyle content, and local journalism. Previously, users could only follow these magazines within his Flipboard app, but now each has its own native ActivityPub feed, allowing users on Mastodon and other federated social apps to follow magazines. Now you can discover it.
The company explains that by allowing users to follow magazines instead of other accounts, it means they can better track their specific interests. Users may be interested in the photos someone posts, but they may not want to follow posts about politics or sports. However, Flipboard's magazines tend to be thematic in nature, allowing users to browse news, articles, and social posts that touch on specific topics, such as healthy eating, climate technology, or national security.
Starting today, users will be able to track these specific interests by following their feeds within their favorite federated apps, such as Mastodon. Participating publishers include Smithsonian, Bloomberg Green, Frommer's, The Intercept, Real Simple, Refinery29, Mashable, Medium, and more.
In Mastodon or another federated app, users see the magazine description and posts since it became federated. The company notes that magazines that recently federated may not yet have submissions because it takes time for content to spread across the federation. If that's the case, click the “See more on original profile” link and you'll see his Flipboard posts instead. When you follow a magazine account on fediverse, all future posts from that account will appear in your Following feed in Mastodon or other apps.
With the initial test group integrated with ActivityPub, Flipboard says it plans to begin generating the remaining active public curators and their magazines. The company plans to begin this process in March, but will offer an opt-out for those who want their magazines to appear only on Flipboard.
“We believe curation is at the heart of giving people high-quality, inspiring social media experiences, and we're excited to bring you a thoughtfully curated feed to Fediverse,” Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said in a statement. We are excited to begin offering this service.”
He said that in addition to completing the federation of Flipboard's remaining magazines, the company is launching a new version of the app that will allow magazine curators to see and respond to comments, likes, and boosts they get from users. He said that preparations are underway. Even Mastodon.
Flipboard isn't the only social app using ActivityPub. Another X competitor, Instagram Threads, is working on integrating ActivityPub. WordPress, Medium, and Mozilla are also joining fediverse, the former via a plugin that allows you to publish your WordPress blog to the decentralized social web.