Magazines are coming to the Fediverse! Now people who use federated social networks like Mastodon and (soon) Threads will be able to discover and follow Flipboard Magazines by selected publishers and creators. This builds on our test to federate Flipboard content and adds over 1,000 Flipboard Magazines for hundreds of interests like fashion, politics, science, sports, technology and more.
Following specific Magazines gives you more control over your Fediverse experience. With the federation of Flipboard profiles, following someone means getting everything they’re sharing in your feed. In some cases, that’s exactly what you want. But other times, you’re only interested in some of their content — say, stories about music, photography or science. Now you can follow just those Magazines. (It’s like following a playlist instead of subscribing to a channel.)
For example, perhaps you love baseball. Follow just the baseball Magazines by ESPN and FanSided, so you don’t have to sift through stories about sports you don’t care about. Want to see where to eat in your city? Follow local Magazines like Eater New York (because who really cares about things to do in places where you don’t live or plan to visit?). Interested in local news? Follow Axios Magazines dedicated to what’s happening in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco or wherever you happen to be. Following Flipboard Magazines gives you the content you want, from the profiles you trust, without all of the other stuff.
Federating Flipboard Magazines brings the quality of Flipboard stories and curation to a whole new ecosystem and community. Here’s how you can discover and interact with Magazines in the Fediverse.
1. From a Mastodon post
If you’re a Mastodon user, this is what a post from a Flipboard.com profile looks like in your Home feed.
The post shares two pieces of content: first, the headline of the story and a link to it, and second, the Magazine it was added to.
To explore the Magazine, click on the second link and scroll through the feed to see what the curator likes to share. If it looks like content and commentary you’re interested in, select Follow to see posts from this Magazine in your Home feed (it’s just like following a profile).
2. Via search
Search for a profile like @theverge@flipboard.com, and in the results, you’ll see Magazines created by this profile. Then you can explore each Magazine and only follow the ones that interest you.
3. Organized in lists
Want to follow several Magazines about a topic or interest? Lists are a great way to organize your Mastodon experience. You can create lists around any theme, and you can also hide them so they don’t dominate your home feed. Here’s a post from Fedi.Tips that tells you how to use the list feature.
For recommendations on Magazines to follow and the latest product announcements, follow @flipboard@flipboard.social on Mastodon.
Beyond federating Flipboard, we’re also building a new experience for the Fediverse that will be launching later this year. Sign up to receive an email when it launches.
We look forward to seeing you in the Fediverse!
— Jessica Jordan, marketing and community lead, is co-curating The Recipe Exchange and The Travel Exchange