Social journal app Flipboard is constant its investment within the federated social net with as we speak’s information that it’s integrating with decentralized social networks Bluesky and Pixelfed. The transfer will enable customers of the Flipboard cellular app to visually flick thru posts and pictures from each networks, remark, favourite, reply and scroll by means of customized feeds, like Bluesky’s “What’s Scorching” feed of common posts. Notably, this additionally makes Flipboard the primary main tech firm to combine with Bluesky, the up-and-coming Twitter different that is still in an invite-only private beta, in addition to the primary cellular app to help all three decentralized networks.
In accordance with Flipboard, the Bluesky integration will start rolling out to customers on iOS and Android as we speak, whereas Pixelfed help will roll out within the days forward.
Very similar to with Flipboard’s earlier support for Mastodon, customers will have the ability to go to the app’s accounts part (on the Following tab) so as to add their Pixelfed and Bluesky accounts, which incorporates utilizing an app password for Bluesky for extra safety, as an alternative of their predominant login credentials.
Picture Credit: Flipboard
After setup is full, Flipboard customers can successfully use the app as a Pixelfed or Bluesky consumer to flip by means of others’ posts, pictures and articles; browse particular person profiles; and reply, like and repost content material; in addition to learn replies and feedback from others. Bluesky customers can even have the ability to browse the “What’s Scorching” trending feed and, sooner or later, another customized feeds that find yourself being supported.
Although by default, Flipboard opts for a extra visible format the place you flip by means of posts, there may be an choice within the settings to change to a scrollable feed if you’d like a extra Twitter-like consumer interface for searching the Bluesky timeline. (Or “skyline,” as its customers have dubbed it.)
The brand new integrations are a part of Flipboard’s bigger efforts to embrace the way forward for the social net, which incorporates now a push towards decentralization.
Since its founding over a decade in the past, Flipboard has centered on constructing a platform that lets customers uncover content material from across the net and create “magazines” dedicated to their pursuits by curating content material from media websites, blogs and varied social networks. However with Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, Flipboard’s potential to curate from the microblogging app was impacted by the altering insurance policies round Twitter’s API utilization and pricing. Twitter then shut off Flipboard’s access final month.
Picture Credit: Flipboard
On the similar time, curiosity in decentralized social networking started rising, as customers appeared to Twitter alternate options, such because the open source, decentralized platform Mastodon, to serve their wants. Seeing the potential in a decentralized social net — or “fediverse,” because it’s known as — Flipboard announced in February it would add support for Mastodon in its app, launch its personal Mastodon server and ultimately combine with ActivityPub, the underlying protocol that powers Mastodon and different federated apps, like Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram different. The ActivityPub integration has been underway for just a few months and can take a number of extra to finish, Flipboard notes.
Within the meantime, Flipboard has been slowly rising its Mastodon occasion, flipboard.social, which at the moment requires an invite to entry. And Flipboard customers at the moment are capable of work together with their Mastodon community within the app, a lot as they may with Twitter earlier than it.
Picture Credit: Flipboard
However not like Mastodon and Pixelfed, Bluesky is growing its personal decentralized protocol, the AT Protocol. Whereas some have criticized this determination when a reasonably well-established W3C-recommended choice exists with ActivityPub, Bluesky has completely different concepts round account portability, consumer identification and algorithmic selection — so the crew felt it was obligatory to start out contemporary.
Right this moment, meaning customers who need to browse each decentralized networks — the AT Protocol-powered Bluesky and the ActivityPub-powered Mastodon (and the broader universe of federated apps) have had to make use of completely different apps to take action.
Now, they’ll work together with each networks immediately from Flipboard’s app.
Flipboard CEO Mike McCue isn’t frightened concerning the competing requirements, as he believes the issues shall be resolved over time.
Picture Credit: Flipboard
“The ability of the social net, I believe, is certainly going to occur,” he says. “The specifics of the AT protocol, the ActivityPub protocol, and the way all these issues come collectively, will in the end get labored out. These are simply kind of like tactical friction factors…however that is taking place.”
Plus, he notes, Flipboard is teaming up with different builders to attempt to collaborate on constructing a bridge between the 2 protocols.
“That manner, customers on ActivityPub may comply with customers on Bluesky utilizing AT Protocol and vice versa,” McCue explains.
In the intervening time, he needed Flipboard to work with each protocols with out upsetting the consumer expertise.
“What we’re doing right here may be very harking back to what e-mail shoppers used to do if you had POP3 and IMAP — two completely different e-mail protocols. It’s nonetheless e-mail. And customers principally didn’t care. The consumer simply built-in each protocols and made it work. That’s actually what we’re doing right here with Mastodon and Bluesky,” McCue says.
Nonetheless, in the interim, Flipboard is at the moment integrating with the Mastodon and Bluesky APIs — not their respective protocols. That work is ongoing for ActivityPub. And the long run for the AT Protocol, together with attainable connectivity to ActivityPub through a bridge, is unknown.
Picture Credit: Flipboard
Plus, although each networks are accessible by means of the Flipboard app, customers aren’t but on the level of having the ability to publish as soon as to have their content material shared to each platforms. (Which means you might even see double posts from those that cross-post the identical content material to a number of locations.)
Longer-term, Flipboard sees the opportunity of bringing its curation experience to the decentralized social net, as effectively. Already, it’s begun running editorial “desks” on Mastodon to assist individuals uncover fascinating content material and folks to comply with. In time, it may introduce its personal customized feeds for the decentralized net, too.
“Flipboard has wonderful feeds…We’ve feeds powered by AI, feeds which can be powered by customers — with the curation that they do. And now we have blends of these two,” notes McCue. Flipboard’s AI engine can analyze all content material being posted on Mastodon, Bluesky, Pixelfed and different supported integrations, like RSS and YouTube, then classify it by matter and by who’s curating it, and switch it right into a high-quality journal, customized to the consumer’s pursuits.
“It’s a extremely highly effective functionality,” McCue says. “Now, that is solely out there within the Flipboard app, however you possibly can think about that this feed could be one thing that we may make accessible to customers on Bluesky,” he hints.
These customized feeds may in the end current new enterprise fashions, as effectively, both by means of promoting or subscriptions, or others which have but to return to cross. However that’s additional down the highway, the exec says.
The brand new integrations will arrive on Flipboard’s iOS and Android apps, beginning as we speak.
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