Flipboard Is Pivoting To ActivityPub and the Fediverse

Flipboard, the social media magazine and news app, announced that it is starting to switch its user accounts to ActivityPub, a technology developed by the World Wide Web Consortium that makes social networks interoperable, "connecting everything to a single social graph and content-sharing system," reports The Verge. From the report: Right now, only 25 accounts have been federated with ActivityPub, but by March Flipboard says it plans to allow anyone on the platform to open their account to the fediverse and allow any Flipboard user to follow any fediverse account from within the Flipboard app. At that point, Flipboard will essentially be an ActivityPub-based platform like Mastodon or Pixelfed but with an interface designed for reading articles instead of bite-sized posts. It'll be the biggest thing in the fediverse -- at least until Threads shows up for real.

"Basically, we're in the process of replacing our whole social back-end with ActivityPub," says Flipboard CEO Mike McCue. "I think Flipboard is going to be the first mainstream consumer service that existed in a walled garden that switches over to ActivityPub."

Re:

[christoban]

Thanks Woke Mafia! Pushed any Jews into the sea lately?

Re:

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Yes, sure. Sound logic you have there. It rhymes and everything. Easy for people to remember. No need for thought or context. Thing I am scared of, is the thing I want to disappear. Got it. Can you design some kind of clothing item to publicize your astounding intellect and grasp of complex social economic issues, to better alert us of your *ahem* genius?

Re: you know what they say

[Baloo Uriza]

You really took the long way around saying "I think bigotry is a good thing."

So is ActivityPub ...

[Thoth Ptolemy]

So is ActivityPub the new trendy hotness that burns out soon or is it here to stay with the integration of Threads and Flipboard and which is next?

Re: So is ActivityPub ...

[Baloo Uriza]

With the fediverse being around a dozen years now, it's already an established thing. The fact capitalists discovered it is kind of a "and the last horse finally finishes the race" thing.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

> fediverse. Is that a thing now?

You could leave comments on Wordpress with your Mastadon account in like 2016.

Old tech by now.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

It's funny how, years ago, having Mastodon etc. operate in an open "fediverse" was considered another shining example of the FOSS spirit. But now people are complaining when for-profit companies announce they're joining the fediverse. I swear some people don't want Mastodon etc. to actually succeed, they just want it to not fail so they can have their own quiet little playground.

Re:

[_xeno_]

I swear some people don't want Mastodon etc. to actually succeed, they just want it to not fail so they can have their own quiet little playground.

As far as I can tell that's the only selling point that "Blue Sky" has: it implements its own, brand new federated social media system that's invite only, so Blue Sky users can have their own quiet little playground.

Otherwise it's just a less featured version of Mastodon where federation doesn't even work yet.

Re: So is ActivityPub ...

[Baloo Uriza]

Less "quiet little playground" and more "Cartman magnet". Because the best thing about Cartmanland is You Can't Come. And given the incel vibe that place immediately got, it's also a pun.

Like Usenet Before AOL

[atrimtab]

Ah, those were the days....