Flipboard Launches Surf for Custom Social Feeds

Flipboard, a digital news aggregator with a 15-year history, has launched Surf, a customizable feed platform that allows users to curate their own content streams from across the open social web. The rollout, following over a year in beta testing, introduces a unified experience blending news articles, social posts, podcasts, videos, and newsletters, available now on the web with mobile apps in beta.

Surf replaces Flipboard's previous multi-tab interface with a single, real-time feed that users build by selecting from more than 40,000 topics and sources, including traditional publications, individual creators, and decentralized networks. Users can fine-tune the feed by adding or removing elements, adjusting topic emphasis, and filtering content types, all without relying on opaque algorithms. The platform integrates protocols such as ActivityPub for Mastodon, AT Protocol for Bluesky, and RSS for websites, enabling seamless incorporation of posts from fediverse platforms like Mastodon and Threads, alongside YouTube channels and podcasts.

Interactions on Surf connect directly to users' existing social accounts. Liking a post registers the action on the original platform, while...