Flipboard is furthering its investment in the Fediverse — the distributed social media ecosystem that includes apps like Mastodon and others — with its newly announced plan to establish its first editorial desks to curate news for the wider federated community. With this move, Flipboard hopes to bring more high-quality content to users across platforms, making it easier for them to stay informed and participate in conversations.
Given that the company has experience in curation and building an app that organizes updates from social networks into personal magazines, it makes sense that they would be interested in turning their attention to content promotion. With a large network of followers, the company could provide valuable insights on how to effectively promote specific pieces of content for maximum impact.
Flipboard’s decision to embrace the open social web and decentralized apps signals its intent to stay ahead of the curve as social media continues to evolve. By integrating with Mastodon and ActivityPub, Flipboard is establishing itself as a go-to platform for users looking for alternatives to traditional social media platforms.
It seems that Flipboard has found another way to stay connected with the users of Twitter. After Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk revoked API access for a range of third-party services, including Flipboard, the app had to find another way to keep its customers connected. Now, Flipboard says it won’t work with Twitter after Musk changed the pricing for its API to cut out smaller developers. Instead, Flipboard has added support for browsing Mastodon and engaging with its content in its magazine app. This allows users of both apps to continue sharing their content and communicating on a more extensive level than before.
Twitter’s expensive, unreliable, and untrustworthy payment method made it unsuitable for many businesses. However, others have taken up the challenge and developed their own more affordable and reliable systems.
Some observers say that Mastodon’s shift away from Twitter is a strategic move by the company aimed at rebuilding its user base and increasing its appeal to potential advertisers. Others contend that Flipboard’s decision to invest in Mastodon may have been a wise decision, as the platform is seen as highly moderated, fast, secure and reliable. Either way, it seems likely that both platforms will continue to grow in popularity among Fediverse members.
Tom McCue is one of the leaders of the Flipboard Mastodon community, promoting online content and interactions with others in the group. Using Flipboard as a platform for networking, McCue has helped to create an active and positive community around Mastodon. He also participates in various events organized by other members of the group, deepening his ties to fellow Fediverse builders.
Flipboard is aiming to improve the Mastodon community by introducing their desks concept. Desks will deliver explainers and analysis, but not flood users’ feeds with “a kajillion posts.” This will allow Mastodon users to focus on important discussions without having to constantly filter through posts.
The addition of new desks and a more user-friendly Mastodon account setup will help people find others to follow on the social media platform. However, with today’s setup it can still be a challenge to follow other users.
Flipboard is looking to elevate the voices of Fediverse members through its “Thoughtful Voices” initiative. This will include boosting posts by others, as well as providing more exposure for thoughtful writing on the platform. This comes after criticism that Flipboard was not doing enough to foster discussion in its community.
The desk arrangement will allow each section to focus on what best suits their specific area of coverage. This will help keep the paper top-notch and improve the quality of content delivered to its readers.
The Flipboard team is introducing a new feature for its Mastodon account called Desk curation. Desk curation is a way for the team to feature three to five stories each day from accounts with the same name on their own app. This will help pull in posts from other Mastodon accounts to aid in discovery.
The Flipboard team believes in a future where content is federated and interconnected, and this Desks initiative is their way of getting started. By being open to collaboration with the community, they hope to learn as much as possible about what makes great content.
