Flipboard, a popular digital magazine app, rolls out its biggest revamp to date. The updated version now features a redesigned smartphone layout, a daily news feature, new ways to find content and improved navigation.
The heart of the update is the app's deep integration of former CNN-owned Zite, which Flipboard acquired in March. The mobile news recommendation service is famous for its ability to recommend a plethora of fresh content that covers both general and specific categories. Following the same technology of intelligent curation, the latest update now allows the app to deliver 34,000 topics that users can follow.
Upon opening the Flipboard 3.0 app, users are guided all the way through in picking a range of topics. It asks them on the topics that they are interested in and provides them a number of suggestions. These vary from high-level categories such as "Technology" to more specific topics such as "iPad apps."
Once the user has identified several topics, the app leads him to the front page where he can flip through stories from multiple sources. The stories are tagged according to content and topic, enabling the user to relate one story to the other. They can also follow stories according to source.
Flipboard 3.0 also features a fresh new design that concentrates on slick typography and high-contrast headlines. As 70 percent of users navigate through the app on their phones, Flipboard wants to make sure that it delivers important news as quickly as possible. With the app's new method of choosing topics based on keywords, users can easily choose the ones that interest them the most.
"There are some people that are very loyal to specific publications and that is always going to continue to be the case," says Flipboard co-founder Mike McCue.
The new Daily Edition feature delivers a curated summary of the biggest headlines of the day, which users can get at 7 a.m. local time. It will also feature a daily photo and "parting GIF" for the users. With this feature, the app becomes a more complete singular digital resource where users can have the best of both worlds: the important news that they should be aware of and the stories that they are interested in.
Finding more relevant content is the focus of Flipboard's business model. By delivering a revamped magazine-like experience, users can flip more stories, become more engaged, and view more ads along the way. More ads, of course, mean more money.
