Flipboard Announces Surf Good Idea Annoying Problems

Flipboard, the news/magazine app that lets you “flip” through content from the sources you follow (think TikTok for news), has announced Surf, a social news magazine. I think it’s a genuinely great idea, with a few important caveats. Surf is currently in beta and allows you to combine content from your social feeds with personalized stories. This could potentially help you discover fresh, interesting content beyond just what’s pushed in algorithm-driven “For You” feeds.

It feels like a smarter evolution of an RSS reader, blending traditional news with social media into one app, plus the ability to search the web. However, there’s one major drawback right now. Per Flipboard’s description for Surf—”All Social”—it lets you combine people and posts from Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, YouTube, and more. Yes, Bluesky and Mastodon… the most influential platforms of our era, never mind that they’re relatively tiny sites with limited cultural impact, often dominated by the most annoying people online.

If Flipboard adds support for networks that actual people use (like X), or if you don’t have to sign up/log in with a Bluesky or Mastodon account, this could become a solid addition to the app ecosystem. It might even help cut through the online noise and “slop” by giving users more control over their feeds. Overall, I’m optimistic—if they expand the supported platforms. Until then, it’s an interesting experiment in the “open social web,” but not quite ready for prime time for most users. God bless, and Tech Talk to you later!!!