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How Flipboard's new Surf app lets you merge social feeds, YouTube, and RSS to escape the algorithm - finally

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Why This Matters

Flipboard's new Surf app represents a significant shift in social media by offering an algorithm-free platform that consolidates social feeds, YouTube, podcasts, and RSS content. This approach empowers users and creators to regain control over their content consumption and community-building, challenging the dominance of traditional algorithm-driven social networks. It signals a move towards more personalized, transparent, and community-focused digital experiences in the tech industry.

Key Takeaways

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Can a new social network make it? Flipboard Surf has a shot.

Surf combines social networks with text, video, and audio feeds.

Think of Surf as the anti-algorithm, anti-AI-slop social network.

I'll give Flipboard, the once-popular tablet news aggregator site, credit for chutzpah.

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After a year in beta, its new Android app and website, Surf, go beyond simple news aggregation to incorporate content from social networking protocols like ActivityPub, AT Protocol, and good old Real Simple Syndication (RSS), enabling you to craft custom feeds blending posts and blogs from social networks such as Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads.

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