Flipboard Joins the Decentralized Wave: Integrates with ActivityPub for a Federated Future
Social Magazine App Joins Mastodon and Instagram Threads in the Fediverse
Flipboard, the social magazine app, has announced its integration with the decentralized social web by embracing ActivityPub. Following Instagram Threads, Flipboard is now part of the growing fediverse, including Mastodon and other platforms.
The journey began with Flipboard integrating its app with Mastodon via an API and establishing its Mastodon server, flipboard.social. This experimentation provided insights into decentralized social media, especially after Twitter/X increased API fees for third-party developers. The app’s primary function of curating “magazines” relied on Twitter as a so furce until it shifted to Mastodon and Bluesky.
In the latest development, select Flipboard accounts, including publishers and nonprofits, are testing the integration. Users’ curated content on Flipboard will now appear on their new flipboard.com Mastodon account, connected directly to the fediverse. Although users can opt-out, being opted-in will be the default experience, with the aim to connect all user accounts by the end of January.
With over 10,000 publishers and a quarter million individual curators on Flipboard, this lintegration could significantly impact the fediverse. The move aligns with other tech companies embracing decentralized social media, hinting at a shift in the web’s future.
CEO Mike McCue acknowledges the need to reconsider the app’s front end in this federated age. Despite these changes, Flipboard sustains its developments without external funding and sees federated social media as the beginning of a more intricate web.
