@mike@flipboard.social cover
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

mike

@mike@flipboard.social

Co-founder and CEO, Flipboard https://flipboard.com/@mike

Interests: #Climbing #Backpacking #Photography #Sailing #ActivityPub #Startups #Design

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

One of my all time favorite SNL sketches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqfVE-fykk

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

I love the user names in the fediverse:

molly0xfff , to News from fediverse
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

I had such a great chat with @mike on his Dot Social podcast, where we talked about the future of the web and why I'm a web optimist, why everyone should be a blogger, digital ownership, and decentralized social media.

The full episode is available here https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/molly-white/ and on PeerTube/YouTube/the usual podcast feeds!

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@freezr @molly0xfff We do have a bad habit in the tech world of calling people "users" and stories "content" and artists "creators". This kind of shorthand is often used to make it easier when building or discussing products but risks overly simplifying or categorizing.

When I use the phrase "content creator" I'm referring to people like bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters who often tell stories in a way that is deeply rooted in their passion or expertise. I think these are people who I think should be celebrated in the fediverse and given an opportunity to subsidize their work so that can be sustainable.

mike , to Podcast
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

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 on our instance or wherever you get your .

https://flipboard.video/w/ovAsDRovkgbihkZa3wMcUA

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@underlap @molly0xfff I agree. One of the best. Molly is so good. Thanks for listening.

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

The antidote to AI destroying the web is to strengthen human connection and to make those connections a fundamental part of the open web. Quickly.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@andresmh yes. thankfully!

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@mike I think Bing is also all-in on AI. We're going to need a totally new way to discover and navigate the web that is fundamentally better than a search engine. I believe trustworthy people recommending quality content to others who share an interest will be a fundamental part of the solution.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@jaredwhite Exactly!

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@opny721 So true. It's be degrading for a long time. AI is a massive accelerant.

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

"A quarter-century into its existence, a company that once proudly served as an entry point to a web that it nourished with traffic and advertising revenue has begun to abstract that all away into an input for its large language models."

https://www.platformer.news/google-io-ai-search-sundar-pichai/

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@caseynewton Love the new Platformer logo.

mike , to News from fediverse
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

I talk about the in this episode of Technically Optimistic, a terrific podcast by Raffi Krikorian and Emerson Collective. The topic: How to Save Social Media

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technically-optimistic/id1689164209?i=1000654155177

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

He's baaaack.

imdavidpierce , to Random stuff

Threads’ moderation system: not doing so hot, y’all

Excited to start ranting and raving about censorship in Installer every week

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@imdavidpierce at least it was federated!

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@jedi @imdavidpierce that’s coming soon. We can make fun of him in the meantime.

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@thisismissem @imdavidpierce Totally. Threads' and Meta's scale are massive so it's hard for them to cover all these cases with a person. I think that's where decentralized moderation like what we see on Mastodon could have a huge advantage, especially if aided by shared moderation lists and ML tools that automatically flag problematic posts to actual people.

stalman Bot , to Random stuff
@stalman@bird.makeup avatar

I wish cameras would offer more compression ratios for raw photos. A lot of the time I’m not worried about fine artifacts as long as I have all my dynamic range and WB flexibility

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@stalman that’s a great idea. I didn’t even know that could be possible.

feb , to Random stuff
@feb@loma.ml avatar

Hi @mike
All Flipboard accounts pretend to be "groups". This is a problem with projects that support real groups. Are you aware of this?

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@feb Flipboard accounts that are individual users are federated as normal accounts. Flipboard magazines are federated as groups because they often have more than one contributor and some have many. Check out my Leica Owners Magazine as an example.

I agree though that the way they display in mastodon could be better. Would love any suggestions you have.

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@feb yes I’m familiar with friendica groups and really like how they work. Flipboard magazines like @leica-owners-magazine-mike or @the-recipe-exchange-food are also thematic exchanges between people in a group. They can be private or they can be public to enable non-members to follow the things members are posting. This is an important type of group that people really appreciate. It’s also a form of moderation because the group owner can invite whomever they trust to contribute to the group while not sealing it off from the rest of the world.

But let’s come back to your concern so I can understand it better. What specifically is the problem you are pointing out here? Or what specific change do you have in mind that I should consider. If there’s a better approach to this I’m all ears. The last thing I would want to do is make using friendica harder or more confusing.

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@feb @Tagesspiegel @tagesspiegel-nachrichten-Tages Thanks a lot for this helpful summary. I will do exactly as you suggest and play around with this more to see how we should best federate our groups.

arcalinea , to Random stuff
@arcalinea@mastodon.social avatar

Haven't posted here in a long time, but my Bluesky account is now bridged to the fediverse through @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy !

Follow @jay.bsky.team@bsky.brid.gy to see my posts across the bridge

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@arcalinea @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy @jay.bsky.team@bsky.brid.gy great to see your posts on mastodon! One step closer to the open social web. Thank you @snarfed for helping make this possible.

feb , to Random stuff German
@feb@loma.ml avatar

Guten Morgen..

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@feb good morning!

darnell , to Random stuff
@darnell@one.darnell.one avatar

A Few (More) Fediverse Suggestions For Flipboard 🔛 @darnell (Seize The Day) 📰 https://darnell.day/a-few-more-fediverse-suggestions-for-flipboard?pk_campaign=rss-feed

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@darnell @darnell Thank you for this super thoughtful summary, Darnell. I really like all these suggestions. Especially the dolphin!

I think there's a decent chance we'll get half of these ideas done in 2024 and the other half in 2025 though not just on our own but as part of a collective effort by multiple parties in the expanding fediverse.

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

This interview with @rileytestut by @davidpierce is SO good. Super exciting vision of an App Store powered by developers who are supported with Patreon or similar. This is a really big idea. Also love that Riley has been active in the fediverse since 2018!

https://www.theverge.com/24150467/delta-emulator-apple-app-voice-notes-ai-vergecast

mike , to News from fediverse
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

Hello fediverse!

So far we've federated 450 accounts which have now received more than 100,000 likes, boosts, replies and follows from people in the . Today we are federating another 100 people who are curating terrific magazines that people in the fediverse can now enjoy.

Here's just one of my many favorites:

Addressing Climate Change Locally
By Ms. Coleman La Salle
High school Biology and Anatomy Teacher in Portland, Oregon

Federated link:
@addressing-climate-change-loca

Note that it takes time for newly federated magazines to populate so click on "Browse more on original profile" in order to see all the stories in the magazine. Once you follow, you'll see new stories as they are added in real time.

Enjoy and check out this post for more great examples:
https://medium.com/fedi-curious/over-100-000-social-interactions-from-the-fediverse-to-flipboard-f76465dee4f8

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@Ertain Thank you! It's great to be here.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@franksting @addressing-climate-change-loca @mpesce I think that's just how Medium works when you select text. You can highlight it or tweet it. Medium was originally built on Twitter but now of course times have changed. Wouldn't be surprised to see this feature change as well at some point.

darnell , to Random stuff
@darnell@one.darnell.one avatar

Yay! My account is federating: @darnell

Like & , Flipboard is beta testing on its main site.

I believe Flipboard will prove to be a counterweight to Threads and a prime location for news & pundits (as does not really desire the latter two on their platforms).

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@darnell Welcome to the fediverse @darnell

julian , to Random stuff
@julian@community.nodebb.org avatar

You know what I just noticed about @mike's DotSocial podcast? The introductions are always succinct and to-the-point. There's no 30-second "John Smith spent 15 years at X doing Y with Z, and revolutionized foo by barbaz, and is also on the board of Fizzbuzz. He is a leading champion for..." blah-de-blah-blah.

Take @snarfed.org@fed.brid.gy's introduction:

The beauty of an open system is that anyone can build on top of it, and try to make it a better place, in the fediverse, software engineer Ryan Barrett is one such developer. Most recently, Ryan built a bridge to connect Bluesky, which uses the AT Protocol, to Mastodon and other platforms, using the ActivityPub protocol. He wanted to advance the fediverse's promise of interoperability. His work ignited a firestorm, revealing learnings, lessons, and insights discussed today.

I never realized how often meaningless polished intros happens on podcasts, radio shows, TV interviews, etc., because I've just learned to tune it all out.

... or maybe it's because if you're an ActivityPub dev, Ryan needs no introduction :laughing:

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@julian @snarfed.org@snarfed.org it's both.

Love that you noticed that!

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

Gotta love how the fediverse is actively banning nazis while Elon is actively unbanning them and Substack does nothing.

eloquence , to Random stuff
@eloquence@social.coop avatar

Perplexity 's "Discover" feature includes LLM-generated news summaries from many different sources.

Similar summary services will likely become more widespread and more sophisticated.

From a reader's perspective, it has significant benefits -- consistent format, no ads, pulling from many sources (including potentially multilingual ones), etc.

But for news media, if readers don't click through to original sources, it creates further strain on business models (ads, donations, etc.).

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@eloquence Totally. This is an extinction level event for journalism and publishers and it needs to be addressed urgently. Otherwise these AI summaries will just be summarizing other AIs and whomever is screaming the loudest on X.

mike , to Random stuff
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

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 OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@islekcaganmert great idea. @tchambers @greg @stux @Gargron Thoughts on this?

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@islekcaganmert @tchambers @greg @stux @Gargron + @mike

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@bassplayer The reply was concerning but his posts were straight up hateful, holocaust denying, calling for violence, etc. Unlike some platforms I have no problem banning nazis.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@publicvoit It's a tough one. I can see how sometimes people or instances could get blocked for reasons that they should be able to address. This particular instance is not like that. They're straight up nazis and should be blocked. There's no perfect solution but at least it's a lot better than X.com

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@aral ok. flipboard.social and flipboard.com are blocking noauthority.social for hate speech and calls for violence.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@WhiteCatTamer @valis01 @avlap2 you’re both right. Moderation is super hard and it can have unintended consequences when done poorly. But it still needs to be done because no moderation gets you X.

One thing I should have been clear about is that I was acting as both a user and an instance owner. We have clear rules on Flipboard’s instance that if violated get you blocked. Acting like a nazi is one of them. That user can still go to other instances. If those instance owners are clearly ok with nazi behavior then there’s a good chance everyone on that instance will ultimately get blocked.

Blocking everyone on one instance from everyone on another is not to be taken lightly and is an instance owner decision. It’s the ultimate moderation weapon and shouldn’t be used to settle scores, etc it should be used against instances that are specifically about promoting hate speech, scams, CSAM and violence. When used properly, instance to instance blocking has been incredibly effective. In this case being able block an instance that is clearly run by a white supremacist for white supremacists is a no brainer to help provide users on Flipboard’s instance with a more positive experience free from harassment by nazis.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@wjmaggos @jonquass I get that there are often grey areas with moderation. But this one is as black and white as it gets. This particular instance owner is calling for death of politicians, denying the holocaust ever happened, promoting hateful conspiracies and encouraging all of his users on his instance to do the same. And they are certainly harassing users on other instances. Blocking this instance is an obvious decision for Flipboard. I understand not all other instance owners will decide to block. That’s the beauty of the fediverse. Each instance can decide what kind of community it wants to host and then users can decide if they want to join or leave that community.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@WhiteCatTamer @valis01 @avlap2 well said.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@chris @avlap2 I’m referring to the policy each instance communicates when you join it. On Flipboard’s instance we don’t allow CSAM and death threats for example. We do this to set the norms for the community our users want to join. If you break those rules you get blocked. Users who want to join a community of no rules and total freedom can join instances that operate that way. Or they can just join X.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@chris @avlap2 also I don’t mean to minimize the “cancel machine” issue you mention. Finding the balance here is super important and not easy. I do think this is an area that needs more attention and norm setting.

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@timethief Flipboard is what I call a "social magazine". Tell it what you are interested in and then it builds a personalized magazine for you made up of stories from trusted sources that we've partnered with over the years. We try to present the stories with a more print-like aesthetic. And as BeAware says, we enable people to curate their own magazines and share them with others. We are in the process of federating all of this curation and magazines into the fediverse. You can check out my magazines at @mike

mike OP ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@Properganda @mike No definitely don’t take my opinions for fact. My observation is that this particular instance owner posts about killing politicians, denies the holocaust and is fanning hate speech and promoting conspiracy theories among his users. I do not want this person or the people on his instance harassing the people on the Flipboard instance. Simple as that. Everyone is free to make their own decision. That’s the beauty of the fediverse.

BeAware , to Random stuff
@BeAware@social.beaware.live avatar

@mike Great work, man.

Lots of my concerns have been significantly lowered by your podcast with Ryan. The future looks bright, thanks to you and all the other leaders in this space.

I am still cynical of Meta, but not as much since we talked last week.🙏

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@BeAware thank you for the kind words. I love being on team fediverse.

rabble , to Random stuff
@rabble@mastodon.social avatar

Is it true that if two people reply to my this post from different servers they won’t see each others reply?

Doesn’t that make user and community discovery really hard? How do you have emergent conversations with new people?

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@rabble @gabek I personally like it when people constructively point out the flaws we still need to address as well as other approaches that we could consider. I look at all these services as a part of the fediverse because they all genuinely have the same goals.

mgsiegler , to Random stuff
@mgsiegler@flipboard.com avatar

10 years in the making, retro game emulator Delta is now #1 on the iOS charts
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/03/retro-game-emulator-delta-app-store-ios/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Massive Greatness @massive-greatness-mgsiegler

mike ,
@mike@flipboard.social avatar

@mgsiegler @massive-greatness-mgsiegler so cool to see this happening.

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