I think the key to avoiding the google chat trap again is that the private company needs to have way more to lose than to gain by killing federation. If a critical mass of flipboard’s users use it through ActivityPub, then ending that would hugely damage their business. Flipboard may be both large enough to bring a significant I flux of users and content into the fediverse, but small enough, especially if the federate with threads, to not be overwhelming.
I just hope it’s not just a way to get users then close back up the platforms once they have enough users.
I think the key to avoiding the google chat trap again is that the private company needs to have way more to lose than to gain by killing federation. If a critical mass of flipboard’s users use it through ActivityPub, then ending that would hugely damage their business. Flipboard may be both large enough to bring a significant I flux of users and content into the fediverse, but small enough, especially if the federate with threads, to not be overwhelming.