Announcing Surf, The First Browser for The Open Social Web

December 18, 2024-Palo Alto, CA-Today Flipboard, Inc. is opening a beta for Surf, a new way to discover, create and share custom feeds that combine people and sources from across the social web for any interest. With support for browsing ActivityPub, AT Proto and RSS, Surf enables anyone to easily mix people, publishers, blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels into custom feeds with powerful topical filters and moderation tools. Surf frees people from closed networks and the monolithic For You feed by giving them the controls to design their own social media experience around interests instead of platforms.

Custom feeds can be built by anyone, for anything. For example, "Film is Not Dead" by popular photographer and podcaster David Imel, is a custom feed that includes photos, videos and podcasts from curated film photographers who are posting with the #FilmIsNotDead hashtag on Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon and YouTube. "Tech Talk" includes tech founders, journalists and podcasters but filters their posts by the Tech topic, so only relevant posts appear. "NBA Threads" lets basketball fans across Threads and Bluesky discuss games in real time or catch up with pre and post game articles, videos and podcasts. There's an ocean of possibilities and, as new feeds are created, the Surf editorial team will feature them in the Surf Shop.

"Until now, our connections to each other have been siloed and owned by a few monolithic social networks. The rise of the open social web means we can now imagine entirely new ways to connect people and information online," said Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard and host of Dot Social. "Surf is built from the ground up for this new era, giving people the tools they need to shape their online experiences and experiment with new ways to build sustainable communities on the web."

The Surf beta, dubbed Dawn Patrol, is being released first for 'feed builders', people interested in creating custom feeds around diverse topics, communities and interests. To join this early group of surfers, sign-up at about.surf.social.

Creating Surf Custom Feeds

Giving people the ability to browse the entire social web means Surf custom feeds can include a wide variety of sources including keywords, individual profiles, unique hashtags, Flipboard Magazines, RSS content, YouTube channels, podcasts and even other feeds. In the Surf app, select Make a Custom Feed, give it a name and use the Star to add sources to the feed. Feeds will automatically be added to the Surf home space for quick access, but they are also viewable and editable in a user's profile.

Feed owners can manage the vibe of their feeds by opening it to contributors and attaching a hashtag to the feed and setting their default view tab to one of the modalities: All, Watch, Read, LIsten, Look or Sources. For example, if the feed is a list of recommended people to follow, it may be best to start in the Sources tab. If the feed is for a fan group, opening in the Discuss tab makes more sense. The feed owner can decide this in feed Settings.

The Surf beta also offers a few ways to filter and moderate feeds. When viewing a feed, use the three-dot menu to exclude any profiles, hashtags or topics. When creating a feed, set a topic filter and exclude any specific people, hashtags or topics that pollute the intention of the feed. These tools will expand over time and more sophisticated feed management will be included in the months ahead.

Surf users can share their feeds with others, add feeds to their feeds and soon be able to publish their feeds to other platforms. To find feed inspiration or follow feeds others have made, the Surf app features new feeds all the time and, like Spotify playlists, can be a way to find feeds or sources.

Follow Surf on any of our new Surf channels where we'll keep you up on product developments and offer some seaside inspiration. Find us on Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads.

About Flipboard

Flipboard is the world's first social magazine where people go for information and inspiration. It is a platform that lets people spend time on their interests, develop deeper understanding of issues, and share the best ideas with others by collecting them into their own Flipboard Magazines. Download Flipboard for free in any app store or visit flipboard.com. Follow Flipboard on Threads, Mastodon and/or Bluesky.

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