Flipboard, a well-known news aggregation platform, is reinforcing its commitment to the open social web through a significant acquisition. The company recently announced its purchase of Graze, a startup from Portland focused on developing feed-building tools. This move is designed to incorporate Graze's innovative ad technology, which prioritizes user privacy, and its creator monetization features into Flipboard's growing open social web initiatives. Graze has been instrumental in enabling content creators to earn revenue through advertising on open social platforms, diverging from traditional data-tracking ad models.
Graze currently provides comprehensive tools for creating, customizing, publishing, and managing feeds specifically for Bluesky, a decentralized social network built on the AT Protocol. These curated feeds allow users to personalize their social experience and access content from various applications that utilize this open standard. Since its inception 21 months ago, Graze has facilitated the delivery of over 41 billion posts to approximately 12 million individuals. The platform's advertising approach is contextual, meaning ads are placed based on the content of the feed rather than tracking individual user data. This model allows brands to target specific communities, and importantly, feed curators retain control over which advertisements appear, ensuring relevance and alignment with their content. Graze shares 70% of the ad revenue with feed creators, a model that has successfully monetized about 60% of its over 7,000 active feeds.
Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard, praised Graze's ad technology, highlighting its ability to generate revenue without compromising user privacy. The collaboration between Flipboard and Graze deepened after Flipboard began utilizing Graze's technology in its new application, Surf, which eventually led to the acquisition. This merger eliminates redundant efforts and leverages Flipboard's established relationships with advertisers to accelerate growth within the open social ecosystem. Post-acquisition, Graze's feed-building capabilities will extend beyond Bluesky to encompass all platforms operating on the AT Protocol, including Flipboard's own application. McCue emphasized that while users may not consciously perceive themselves as joining the 'open social web,' they are drawn to communities based on shared interests, underscoring the potential for niche communities to thrive and monetize their content.
This acquisition marks a forward-thinking step towards empowering content creators and fostering a more ethical and sustainable advertising model on the internet. By integrating privacy-focused ad solutions and creator-centric monetization strategies, Flipboard and Graze are paving the way for a digital landscape where individuals and communities can flourish without the pervasive reach of surveillance capitalism. This collaboration exemplifies a commitment to innovation that respects user autonomy and encourages a fair distribution of economic benefits within the online content ecosystem.
