If you’re overwhelmed by trying to keep track of several social media apps and interests, you now have a new way to bring your connections together. Flipboard, a popular social magazine app, launched Surf on Thursday.
Surf reminds me of when we used to use RSS feeds to keep up to speed on our interests. In short, it’s a fast, simplified way to browse and explore the web on mobile or desktop.
Your Surf site brings together social media posts, videos, podcasts and conversations in a feed-like style. So if you’re into politics, Rolling Stone Politics’ Surf site might offer you relevant posts from Bluesky, reposts from Wired and original posts created on Surf.
How does Surf work?
Visit Surf.social and create an account. You can scan feeds from other communities, create your own and connect with people who share similar interests. Surf lets you embed sources from several social media platforms, including Bluesky, Threads, YouTube and Mastodon. You can also include sources from podcast services, blogs and newsletters.
Surf also has a search engine in beta mode. When I searched for Pilates, for example, a feed was curated to include related posts and articles — it also highlighted people who contributed to the feed so I could see more of their content, if I chose. Trending topics, like Survivor 50 and Nintendo, are also available.
Uniting communities
“Social websites help podcasters, creators and publications build communities around their work and control the experience, including the algorithm,” Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard and Surf, said in a statement. McCue says creators can use social media websites to unite people and conversations that are already happening.
“Rather than starting a community from scratch, creators can use social websites to easily bring together the people and conversations that are already happening around their podcasts, videos and newsletters across the social web,” he said.
There’s one distinct difference between Surf and other popular social media platforms. Surf says that each website is powered by a feed and controlled by the creator. That tunes out the noise of other topics you may not be interested in, which may be a relief in a time when Facebook has taken to filling your feed with groups and posts you never asked for.
Surf’s app is available in beta on Google Play and will be on the Apple App Store by the end of April. Surf won’t come out of beta mode for another six to nine months, a Surf representative said in an email to CNET. Users can also access Surf via the web.
You won’t need social media apps to create a Surf profile, but you’ll see that many reposts are from other social media profiles. I wouldn’t say it’s a substitute for Instagram or Facebook, but it could be a good addition if you want a dedicated space to dive into or connect with others on certain topics.
Flipboard also says other updates are coming, including custom headers, colors and feed management. A Surf representative says to expect more features by summer, including pro tools for outlets that want to offer member privileges.
(function() {
window.zdconsent = window.zdconsent || {run:[],cmd:[],useractioncomplete:[],analytics:[],functional:[],social:[]};
window.zdconsent.cmd = window.zdconsent.cmd || [];
window.zdconsent.cmd.push(function() {
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('set', 'autoConfig', false, '789754228632403');
fbq('init', '789754228632403');
});
})();