Flipboard, the popular news aggregator app, has introduced a new app called “Surf” that aims to simplify content discovery and organization in the evolving landscape of the social web. Surf allows users to create personalized feeds that pull from various sources, including Mastodon, Bluesky, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos.
Flipboard CEO Mike McCue describes Surf as a “browser for the social web,” emphasizing its ability to connect users with content from diverse platforms and protocols. Surf supports RSS, Bluesky’s AT Protocol, and ActivityPub, the protocol used by decentralized networks like Mastodon and Threads.
With Surf, users can build custom feeds by combining various sources, such as individual accounts, hashtags, RSS feeds, and podcasts. This allows for highly personalized content discovery tailored to specific interests. Surf also offers 30,000 predefined topics for users to explore.
Surf’s home page presents a curated selection of feeds organized into categories like Featured, Trending, Communities, and Expert Voices. Users can configure feeds to include or exclude specific content types, such as replies, reposts, or mature content. The app also allows for chronological timeline-style feeds, similar to Twitter.
Surf emerges amidst a shifting social media landscape, where traditional platforms have lost some of their dominance. The app addresses the fragmentation of the social web by providing a centralized hub for discovering and organizing content from various sources.
Currently, Surf is in a closed beta, accessible by invitation only. The app is available for iOS and Android devices, with a desktop version planned for future release.
