mike

mike, 5 months ago to random

While I personally stopped tweeting in May, it was clear that now was the time for Flipboard to stop tweeting as well.

This is a sad outcome given that Twitter was the platform we got started on in 2010 and I was a board member there with Jack, Ev and Dick. But that Twitter is gone now. And the future is the open social web.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/21/flipboard-stops-tweeting-launches-new-podcast-about-decentralized-social-apps/

mike, 5 months ago to fediverse

I think that fully integrating #ActivityPub into Flipboard's backend is going to be one of the best things we've done since we started the company.

There are three phases:

Phase 1 (Today): Federate 25 accounts to test and learn

Phase 2 (January): Enable anyone in the Fediverse to engage with any public curator on Flipboard

Phase 3 (April): Enable anyone on Flipboard to follow and engage with any public account in the #Fediverse

Check out my Medium post for more

https://medium.com/@mmccue/flipboard-begins-to-federate-4a80d6bdc209

mike, 3 months ago to fediverse

Hello Fediverse!

Today we're taking another important step in our journey to fully federate Flipboard.

This morning we federated 1,000 Flipboard Magazines curated by the publishers we have been testing federation with in addition to 20 new publishers we are federating today. These include magazines like Adventure Travel by Outside, Eater DC by Eater, Explore NYC by Thrillist, Throwbacks by SPIN, and Climate Tech by Bloomberg.

Flipboard Magazines are a simple way to curate articles, images, videos and podcasts into a thematic feed. This powerful curation tool has been at the heart of Flipboard since 2012 with millions of magazines curated since about recipes, road trips, architecture, books, tech trends and so much more.

Federated magazines become native #ActivityPub feeds and can be followed by anyone on Mastodon. For example, check out my Following the Fediverse magazine @following

I believe that thoughtfully curated feeds have the power to make social media a lot more effective and inspiring so I'm excited to bring millions of these magazines to the #Fediverse as we federate all public curators in the next few weeks.

Check out my Medium post for more details along with a list of some of the great magazines we federated today.

https://medium.com/@mmccue/federating-flipboard-magazines-575a18297bd6

mike, 5 months ago to random

Here's a condensed list of the accounts we are federating today:

@AfarMedia
@TheRoot
@pitchfork
@thecollector
@LGBTQNation
@Refinery29
@Smithsonianmag
@SPINMag
@IndieWire
@Semafor
@Joysauce @mental_floss
@ConversationUS
@theverge
@polygon
@NewsLitProject
@csmonitor
@The74
@FastCompany
@Digiday
@Medium
@Kotaku
@ScienceAlert
@NatObserver
@Photowalks
@ErinBrockovich

You can also follow me on Flipboard
@mike

You can learn more from my Medium post: https://medium.com/@mmccue/flipboard-begins-to-federate-4a80d6bdc209

mike, 1 year ago to random

The only feature that matters for any social media experience is the people who are on it. I'm amazed at how many technology leaders forget this and get distracted by the underlying tech, protocols, features, etc.

Elon is a great example. He thinks he bought a platform. But what he really bought was a community. And of the two, the community has degraded far more than the platform.

mike, 5 months ago to fediverse

The network effect for #ActivityPub is gaining some serious momentum right now. As more services adopt the protocol, more people, more communities and more content are added to the network making it increasingly more valuable for everyone. This will only accelerate in the coming months as Threads, Wordpress, Tumblr, Flipboard and others federate.

We're still in early innings but there's no way to put this genie back in the bottle. The open social Web / the #Fediverse is going to be huge.

mike, 4 days ago to fediverse

Molly White is one of the most thoughtful writers and thinkers on the web today. In addition to being a high functioning crypto critic, @molly0xfff is a believer and practitioner in crafting the next era of the web.

Molly believes that human connections are an inextricable part of the web and sees a bright future ahead as those connections move from walled gardens to the open web.

Check out this fantastic conversation with her on the latest episode of #DotSocial on our #PeerTube instance or wherever you get your #podcasts.

https://flipboard.video/w/ovAsDRovkgbihkZa3wMcUA

mike, 15 days ago to random

Well, I got my first white supremacist reply from the fediverse after posting an article about Elon from Flipboard.

I reported and blocked the account. I also looked at the instance admin's account and it's clear he's also a white supremacist. So that instance will be blocked on flipboard.com and flipboard.social as well as shared with other instance admins as a problematic instance for them to take action if they also deem appropriate. Took all of 2 minutes to help make the fediverse a bit better for everyone.

And the best thing is that anyone in the fediverse can do this too. Decentralized moderation FTW.

mike, 1 month ago to fediverse

Today was a huge milestone in our quest to federate #Flipboard and tear down the walls around our own walled garden.

First, we launched a new version of Flipboard for iOS and Android which brings the promise of two way federation to life. Now when a federated Flipboard user curates, people in the fediverse can reply, favorite, boost or follow those Flipboard users who will in turn see that activity in their usual notifications tab. Even better, Flipboard users can directly reply to people in the fediverse -- and very soon they will also be able to follow each other.

Second, we federated some of our best curators today who are actively curating more than 10,000 magazines about everything from climate change to kale smoothie recipes. I'm grateful to our many curators and the service they provide to so many others who want to find the best content about a shared interest. I know our curators are excited to have millions more people who could potentially benefit from their curation. I also know that people in the fediverse will give a warm welcome to these curators. Especially now that everyone can hear and talk to each other over what was once two totally separate networks but now increasingly are in one and the same #fediverse.

mike, 7 months ago to fediverse

I'm so excited about federating #Flipboard to the #Fediverse! We are getting closer every day.

I just recently saw a demo from our engineering team of a Flipboard account being fully federated and followable from #Mastodon. Now we need to interpret all the engagement signals (commenting, favoriting, etc) properly. This includes designing what Flipboard users should see when they click on Mastodon users who reply to them and vice versa. A bunch more to do but we are making serious progress.

mike, 9 months ago to random

Anyone using Twitter to get info on #HurricaneHilary is bound to be misinformed right now. The hashtag is littered with fake videos and reports. There are also a ton of conspiracy theory and climate change denier posts. And of course these are all accompanied with the usual screaming and fighting you see on Twitter now. Toxic. Useless. Misleading.

Mastodon is far better than Twitter for knowing what is truly happening on the ground and why.

mike, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to fediverse

The last 10 days have been a whirlwind for the #fediverse. Important new versions of @mammoth and @ivory launched. Wordpress and Tumblr reaffirmed their commitment to ActivityPub. And Threads and Flipboard began to federate. What does this all mean for the fediverse? How will moderation work? Who will be next to federate?

I asked @Gargron the founder and CEO of Mastodon.

Check out this very special interview which notably is hosted on our #PeerTube instance.

https://flipboard.video/w/cTBu4HusskGTuPBahqm6WY

mike, 11 months ago to random

Hello Fediverse.

Today we’re announcing the addition of PixelFed and Bluesky to our social web integrations on Flipboard.

Now you can see posts from Mastodon, PixelFed, Bluesky and, of course, Flipboard all in the same user experience. You can favorite, reply to, and boost any post. You can follow any user. You can explore any hashtag. And you can post text, photos and links to any timeline. Bluesky is available today for Flipboard on iOS and Android. PixelFed will be live in a few days.

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mike, 6 months ago to random

The centralized, walled garden model naturally leads to building everything into one product, vertically integrating all features in the name of user and partner lock in. Elon's everything app is a predictable progression of this thinking.

Meanwhile the decentralized model naturally leads to many specialized products connected together to satisfy far more use cases than any one product could ever do.

It's like the web vs. AOL all over again and my money is on the web.

mike, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

With today's announcement you can see the stories that some terrific publishers are curating on Flipboard:

Afar
@AfarMedia

The Root
@TheRoot

Pitchfork
@pitchfork

The Collector
@thecollector

LGBTQ Nation
@LGBTQNation

Mental Foss
@mental_floss

Semafor
@Semafor

JoySauce
@Joysauce

The Verge
@theverge

Refinery 29
@Refinery29

Smithsonian Magazine
@Smithsonianmag

SPIN Magazine
@SPINMag

IndieWire
@IndieWire

Conversation US
@ConversationUS

Digiday
@Digiday

mike, 5 months ago to random

Another classic, incisive post from @mmasnick Re: Elon’s supposed thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters:

“So… within the span of about 2 to 3 pages we are told that Elon Musk and exTwitter are passionate supporters of free speech that allow “all viewpoints” to be shared and that Musk is filing this lawsuit to force Media Matters to take down speech that he admits is absolutely true, but where he doesn’t like how they portrayed things.”

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/11/21/congrats-to-elon-musk-i-didnt-think-you-had-it-in-you-to-file-a-lawsuit-this-stupid-but-you-crazy-bastard-you-did-it/

mike, 5 months ago to random

One thing I absolutely love is that hitting star in Mastodon just sends an appreciative signal to the poster. It doesn't influence algorithms. It doesn't shape what I see in my timeline. It doesn't broadcast a signal to my followers that I favorited something.

It just does one thing incredibly well: it sends a simple thanks.

mike, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to fediverse

It's been quite a year for the #Fediverse, #ActivityPub and #Decentralized social media.

I believe we are at a consequential moment for the open social Web so I thought I'd start a podcast for people to hear directly from many of the pioneers in this space.

To kick things off I talk with @mmasnick about his seminal 2019 paper "Protocols not Platforms" and we go deep on what it will take for the open social Web to blossom and thrive next year.

https://dot-social.simplecast.com

mike, 4 months ago to random

A thread on some tenets regarding open systems I feel compelled to relay:

• It’s extremely hard for open to ever compete with closed. It almost never succeeds.

• Every now and then open is given a chance due to unprecedented external events or pressures.

• In the rare event that open gains momentum, any actor can adopt it. That’s the point.

• The actors who adopt open will inevitably range from good to indifferent to bad.

1/

mike, 8 months ago to random

There are so many cool things about mastodon but the best thing by far is the people who are here.

mike, 5 months ago to fediverse

Hello Fediverse!

I'm excited to let you know that we have stood up our very own #PeerTube instance. This is so cool. We've posted all the videos for my Dot Social podcast. We also posted our original Flipboard launch video for fun.

You can check out our PeerTube instance here:

http://flipboard.video

You can follow the Dot Social channel on our PeerTube instance here:

@dot_social

I'm super impressed with PeerTube. It's quite a capable platform and it is fully federated via ActivityPub.

mike, 5 months ago to fediverse

What constitutes a dream job in the #Fediverse? Ian Forrester is living the dream as Senior Firestarter at the BBC where he is helping to chart the way forward in the Fediverse for a highly influential global media brand. Check out my interview with Ian where we dive deep into the experiments the BBC is running, what they’ve learned so far and what a day in the life as a BBC researcher is like.

Follow Ian at @cubicgarden

https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/dot-social-ian-forrester/

mike, 28 days ago to fediverse

In order for the open social web to happen at scale, lots of companies and apps, big and small, need to adopt #ActivityPub. Threads is the largest player so far to do this and the implications are huge.

Why is #Threads doing this? Is federation just another feature or is it foundational to their entire experience? How is the Threads team thinking about moderation, monetization and privacy in these early days and going forward?

I asked @rklambo and @pcottle, two thoughtful and genuine leaders on the Threads team who joined me on the latest episode of #DotSocial. Check it out on our #PeerTube instance or wherever you get your podcasts.

https://flipboard.video/w/2q29uCjnHjot1CHu1CZBim

mike, 5 months ago to fediverse

Every now and then, technologists are able to translate their strongly held beliefs into action for the benefit of society. Sometimes these actions result in new features, apps or platforms but it's especially powerful when this happens at the protocol level.

In the latest episode of Dot Social I talk with @evan about how he helped get #ActivityPub started, how it's going, and what he hopes for next. Check it out here.

https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/dot-social-evan-prodromou/

mike, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

You’re going to love this episode of Dot Social with @coachtony CEO of Medium. He says “there’s a huge difference between what someone is willing to read and what someone is happy to have paid to read”

How do you build a system that rewards great writing? How can you scale expert curation so readers can discover that writing in a sea of AI spam? How will the #fediverse enable writers to connect with their ideal audience?

Hear Tony answer these questions and more at:

https://flipboard.video/w/71s7rayWcY5VWRGPMjV1CH