Flud

---

title: "Flud" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2010-software", "android-(operating-system)-software", "ios-software"] description: "Social news reader application" topic_path: "general/2010-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flud" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Social news reader application ::

Flud was a social news reader application released in 2010 for iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. It was designed to display RSS feeds from blogs and news sites into individual streams for easy viewing. In Flud, articles and stories could be stored for later reading with the Reading List, shared as a favorite read with the Flud button, and shared with Facebook, Twitter, email, Tumblr, Instapaper, and ReadItLater. Flud was headquartered in the historic Spreckels Theater Building in San Diego, California, with remote offices in Detroit and Chicago.

Flud had been tagged as "the first true social news reader" where users could create a personal profile, follow others who share their interests, and become influencers to their followers by sharing content (known as Fluding).

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Fludlogo900px_(2).jpg" caption="Flud logo"] ::

On August 8, 2013, Flud was discontinued.

History

Flud started as a "secret sauce" project in the summer of 2010 between Bobby Ghoshal and Matthew Ausonio of San Diego, California. Flud 1.0 for the iPad was released on the App Store in August 2010, and became available for the iPhone in the following months.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Flud_mb1-e1322863924201_(2).jpg" caption="The Flud team at HQ in San Diego, CA"] ::

Soon after the initial launch of Flud 1.0, Fast Company distinguished Flud's iPad user interface as the "Best UI Design of 2010", NBC called Flud the "future of news" and Mashable distinguished Flud as one of three news readers actively changing and innovating the news industry.

Flud received $1 million in seed funding in April 2011 and became available on Android mobile devices in August 2011.

In December 2011, Flud 2.0 was released, allowing users to create their own "news personalities" and become a trusted source on topical interests. Flud 2.0 launched on Windows Phone and Android devices in March 2012.

On August 8, 2013, the Flud service was discontinued. Users had until that date to download all their data.

References

References

1. Cormier, Jeff. (19 July 2011). "Flud's iOS News Reader Gets Speedier and More Social". The Next Web.
2. Empson, Rip. (7 December 2011). "With v2.0, Flud Wants To Do For Social News Reading What Spotify Is Doing For Music". TechCrunch.
3. Grant, Rebecca. (31 July 2013). "Flud folds: News reader startup is shutting down". VentureBeat.
4. Ghoshal, Bobby. (6 December 2010). "Where was FLUD 4 months ago?".
5. LaBarre, Suzanne. "Best UI Design of 2010". Fast Company.
6. "The Future of News". NBC.
7. Empson, Rip. (7 September 2011). "Social News Reader Flud Strikes A Deal With AOL; Launches Android App". TechCrunch.
8. Hein, Buster. (8 December 2011). "FLUD Version 2.0 Hits the App Store – Here's Why You Might Like It More Than FlipBoard". CultOfMac.
9. Erondu, Jared. (7 December 2011). "FLUD 2.0 hits Apple App Store, adds a social layer and personality to news reading". Macgasm.
10. Cormier, Jeff. (7 December 2011). "FLUD 2.0 for iOS: Create your news personality, become a trusted source".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::