The news: Openvibe, an aggregator for social networks including Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky, is broadening its scope, giving brands and publishers a fresh channel to build visibility without relying on algorithms or paid reach.

The ad-free platform is adding support for RSS, a web standard that lets users subscribe to updates from blogs, news outlets, and other publishers in real time. This opens the door to tracking sources like Substack, Medium, and other independent media, all in one place.

What else? Openvibe plans to introduce leaderboards of the most-followed RSS feeds, per TechCrunch. This could open new visibility metrics around who’s getting followed and which content types are surfacing.

Why Openvibe matters: Aggregator sites like Openvibe, Feeeed, Tapestry, and Flipboard promote a decentralized, user-controlled approach to content discovery. That means:

• No recommendation algorithms. Users see content in the order it’s published, with no filters or feed gaming from AI models.
• No feed ranking. That lets smaller publishers or brands stand alongside larger media outlets.
• No reliance on platform engagement signals. Users choose what they want to see, not what’s getting the most likes or engagement, putting personal preference over virality.

Who’s using it? Openvibe and similar platforms are early in their growth, and current users—similar to those of Mastodon and Bluesky—are likely tech-savvy and value privacy, independent media, and decentralized platforms.

Social media is the top source of news for more than half (54%) of US adults, per YouGov, and online aggregators are the top source for 17%.

Yes, but: The algorithm- and ad-free feed experience of Openvibe could make marketers’ jobs harder and challenge how users find new creators and content.

• Marketers can't pay to play and need to earn visibility through relevance and user interest.
• Hiring social media managers to help build strong blog presences could help develop follower counts on aggregators like Openvibe and capitalize on the RSS addition.

Our take: With no algorithm to boost weak or low-signal content, publishers should write strong and descriptive headlines to encourage engagement. Brands should consider publishing blog versions of social media and newsletter content to get on more RSS feeds and cross-post across social networks to maximize reach.