Flipboard’s new app unites Bluesky, Threads, and other decentralized social networks

The time-honored tradition of surfing the internet is coming back, except this time, the browsing takes place on the decentralized web. Flipboard, which got its start nearly 15 years ago as a news aggregator on mobile devices, has announced an app called Surf that will consolidate content from federated social networks like Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon.

Surf is currently in the invite-only beta phase of its rollout. Flipboard CEO Mike McCue told TechCrunch that the new app is a “browser for the social web” that has been in development for two years.

In a sense, that design is similar to the one utilized by Flipboard, which aggregates news content from multiple sources and contains it within a central feed. In this case, Surf generates its feeds by drawing content from decentralized hubs, including platforms like Threads and Mastodon that run on the ActivityPub protocol. (Flipboard itself began federating via ActivityPub last year.)

Each Surf feed mixes decentralized content with older protocols like RSS to cobble together curated lists. Users can shape their feeds based on favored categories, the work of individual writers and creators, or specific content formats (such as video or text articles).

With Surf, Flipboard is following its base of journalists to the fediverse, where many journalists have set up shop

after the recent chaos on X (which is a former Flipboard partner). The availability of category-specific feeds has been a boon for platforms like Bluesky. The X rival has galvanized rapid growth by introducing more user choice into the content consumption process, and Surf looks to build on that trend by bringing even more customized feeds to the decentralized web.

At the same time, the new app is a return to an old-school style of browsing that was largely replaced by the Web 2.0 wave of social media platforms. There are plenty of people out there who long for the sense of novelty that came with technologies like RSS feeds, content aggregators, and discovery engines.

So if you’re nostalgic for the days of Digg and Stumbleupon, Surf is here to bring you back. In an interview with Fast Company, McCue referenced early internet staples like AOL and Yahoo! among the numerous influencers for his new app. Everything old is new again, except this time, you may need a working knowledge of the fediverse to join the fun.