Flipboard acquires Graze, the feed builder working to monetize the open social web

Flipboard, the quality mag bundle institution that has much precocious invested successful the open societal web — the umbrella word for societal platforms that fto users, not 1 company, power their ain information and assemblage — is making different large stake connected that ecosystem. The institution connected Wednesday announced it’s acquiring the Portland-based feed-building startup Graze, which has been moving to monetize the unfastened societal web by allowing provender creators to enactment themselves via ads.

Graze today offers tools to build, customize, publish, and manage Bluesky feeds, which are curated station streams that users tin acceptable arsenic their location feed, pin for speedy access, oregon propulsion into different apps built connected Bluesky’s AT Protocol (an unfastened method modular that lets antithetic apps stock the aforesaid societal network). Since launching 21 months ago, Graze has sent implicit 41 cardinal posts to immoderate 12 cardinal people, the institution says.

The thought is that curators and communities tin physique their ain feeds to crook their expertise into income. Most importantly, the ads are not based connected the data-tracking exemplary that relies connected pursuing idiosyncratic users crossed the web, and which unfastened societal web supporters telephone the “surveillance ecosystem.” Instead, they’re contextual. That is, if a marque wants to people ads to crippled developers, it tin bargain a placement successful a provender tally by members of that community. What’s more, the feed’s curator tin prime and take which ads they privation to run.

Meanwhile, the advertisement gross is divided 70/30 with Graze, with the bulk of the gross going to the feed’s creator. At present, Graze has northbound of 7,000 feeds connected its platform, and astir 60% of its postulation is monetized.

In an interrogation with TechCrunch, Flipboard CEO Mike McCue praised the adtech involved, saying that “it doesn’t person to surveil anybody, and it doesn’t person to interruption people’s privacy…so that’s a truly fantastic vision. And the cardinal happening is that each the economics aren’t conscionable going to 1 player.”

The advertisement revenue,” helium added, “is being shared with the provender builder.”

Flipboard had been utilizing Graze’s feed-building exertion successful its caller app, Surf, which led to the 2 companies moving much intimately together. It turned retired that the outfits shared a imaginativeness for however the unfastened societal ecosystem could grow, but they were besides duplicating each other’s work.

An earlier mentation of the Surf appImage Credits:Flipboard

Graze co-founder and CEO Devin Gaffney realized things could determination faster with a spouse that already had the infrastructure helium needed — successful this case, Flipboard’s existing relationships with advertisers.

Post-acquisition, Flipboard volition proceed to usage Graze’s exertion and alteration its users to physique feeds themselves, which volition grow beyond the Bluesky app to everything moving connected the AT Protocol, Flipboard’s ain app included.

McCue noted that successful galore cases, the provender builders are radical who are gathering their ain communities connected the unfastened web, but their members aren’t needfully reasoning of it successful the aforesaid way.

“They don’t deliberation of it as, like, ‘I’m joining Bluesky’ oregon ‘I’m joining the societal web, the unfastened societal web.’ They conscionable deliberation I’m joining The Tea due to the fact that ‘I attraction astir women’s sports,’” helium said, referencing a provender from 1 of the communities connected Surf that’s called Bet connected Her.

Flipboard isn’t disclosing the acquisition’s terms, but this was a tiny deal, arsenic Graze had lone raised $1 cardinal astatine the opening of 2025 and has conscionable 2 squad members.