Surf.Social is Chill

When I was deciding what was the first chill thing I wanted to share it felt right that @surf.social be the first one. It's now live on the web and generally publicly available, with mobile apps still in beta as I understand it. I've been a beta tester for a while now, and I really enjoyed my time doing so. And yet as I sit down to write this, I have a hard time describing exactly what surf is. @harrymccracken.com I think describes it the best when he says this > “it feels a little like what browsers themselves might have become if they hadn’t largely stopped evolving almost 20 years ago.” The best description I have, if a bit mechanical and bland, is that Surf is an incredible content aggregation tool. It takes in RSS (which encompasses bloggs, Podcasts and YouTube), ActivityPub and ATProto, presenting them all as feed sources that can be interacted with. You can then bundle these into proper Feeds (I made one on ATProto Projects that could probably use some updating) that pull everything from the sources. Well, almost everything, you can setup filters for keywords and stuff like that so that the Feed is more currated) There are two aspects of the experience that make it chill for me. Simplist one is the color pallate of the app. Oddly specific I know, but I find it all very soothing to browse sources and feeds. The design and responsiveness could still use some touching up, but the team has been updating the experience constantly so I’m not concerned about that. Also, the second aspect I love about Surf, is the core idea. Gathering all of these protocols togethor in one spot is a great idea (and with the introduction of Social Websites, I think Surf agrees). It’s almost intoxicating getting into the flow of searching for, browsing and eventually creating these Feeds. And the Feeds you create can be so granular in what they cover that you can either find one that’s perfect for what you’re looking for, or easily create exactly what you want! Disclosure, I’m also biased towards the team behind Surf, who make @flipboard.com . Flipboard was one of the first iPad centric apps I enjoyed using when I got a 1st get iPad. So the team and their work will always have a special place in my heart for that. To summarize, @surf.social is pretty chill. Give it a look, I think you’ll like it. You’ll come for the utility and stay for the joy of discovery.