Flipboard Introduces ‘Social Websites’ to Empower Creators in the Open Social Web
On April 2, 2026, Flipboard unveiled ‘social websites,’ a groundbreaking initiative designed to provide creators and publishers with personalized spaces on the internet. These platforms are centered around ongoing discussions across the open social web, encompassing decentralized networks like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other publicly accessible web content.
The essence of these social websites lies in their ability to amalgamate various forms of content—social media posts, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and more—into a unified hub under the creator’s control. This integration allows for the consolidation of profiles and posts from platforms such as Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, YouTube, alongside content from podcasts, blogs, and RSS feeds, all within a single destination.
Flipboard envisions these social websites as a transformative model for social media, granting communities greater ownership and authority over the organization of content and conversations. Having embraced decentralized social media in recent years, Flipboard now aims to simplify access to the open social web for publishers and creators.
Social websites help podcasters, creators, and publications build communities around their work and control the experience, including the algorithm, stated Flipboard CEO Mike McCue in a blog post. Rather than starting a community from scratch, creators can use social websites to easily bring together the people and conversations that are already happening around their podcasts, videos, and newsletters across the social web.
This launch signifies the first web-based extension of Surf, Flipboard’s reader app that enables users to browse and explore the open social web. The company notes that these social websites are powered by Surf feeds.
Several publishers and creators have already partnered with Flipboard to establish their own social websites. Notable examples include:
– The Verge
– Wired
– Rolling Stone
– 404 Media
– The Oregonian
These platforms offer readers a centralized location to follow journalists, access podcasts, watch videos, and engage in conversations. Additionally, creator David Rushing has developed ‘All Net,’ a social website dedicated to NBA enthusiasts, aggregating basketball discussions, league news, videos, and real-time game commentary.
To create a Surf feed, users can visit surf.social, sign up, and select the “+ Create Feed” option in the sidebar. They can then follow prompts to add sources, assign a community hashtag, and set filters to customize their feed. Once the feed is configured, the owner can assign a custom domain via the feed header’s three-dot menu to create a social website that can be shared with others. Flipboard emphasizes that these social websites are designed to exist beyond Surf, allowing them to be shared across the web.
By combining content and conversations from across social platforms, Surf social websites become destinations to keep up on anything you’re interested in, Flipboard explains. And this is just the beginning. More customization tools are on the way, including custom headers, colors, and additional feed management features.
This initiative reflects Flipboard’s commitment to fostering a more open and decentralized social web, providing creators and publishers with the tools to build and manage their communities effectively.
