Flipboard, the news aggregator app, has announced its participation in the social networking federated platform, Fediverse, which is built on the ActivityPub protocol. This allows Flipboard users to access content and posts from various networks within Fediverse. Simultaneously, content creators or curators on Flipboard can also add followers from other social networks within the platform.
Flipboard will begin testing in three stages. Initially, it will test with a few content publishers starting today. Then, in January, users will be able to follow public accounts on Fediverse through Flipboard. Finally, in April, accounts on other platforms within the network will also be able to follow public accounts on Flipboard.
Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard, believes that Fediverse can expand its user base to 150 million people by the end of next year. This is feasible considering that Flipboard already brings in millions of users and there are also numerous threads being prepared to join Fediverse with a significant number of users.
There is a small detail that may reflect why Flipboard is focusing on Fediverse. CEO McCue was previously on the board of Twitter from 2010 to 2012 and even negotiated the sale of Flipboard to Twitter in 2015. However, with the advent of Elon Musk, Twitter cut off its API usage, affecting Flipboard. Consequently, McCue has turned his attention more towards Fediverse.
TLDR: Flipboard is joining the Fediverse, a social networking federated platform, allowing users to access content and posts from various networks within Fediverse. Testing will begin with content publishers, followed by enabling users to follow public accounts on Fediverse through Flipboard, and eventually allowing accounts from other platforms to follow public accounts on Flipboard. CEO Mike McCue aims to expand Fediverse’s user base to 150 million people by next year. This move is driven by McCue’s previous experiences and the challenges faced with other social media platforms.
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