Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Are Apps Like Flipboard the Future of Media?

If you spend any time at all with an iPad, it soon becomes sec ond nature to swipe through web pages, books and mag a zines with just a fin ger stroke, to the point where this has become the pre ferred way of con sum ing con tent for many dig i tal natives — whether it's a book, a news pa per or a Twit ter or Face book feed. Flip board was one of the first to take advan tage of this with a magazine-style, swipe-powered inter face. Oth ers have come along as well, includ ing Zite and Pulse, as well as video-based apps like ShowYou. If noth­ing else, such apps are show ing tra di tion al media enti ties what read ers real­ly want when it comes to dig i tal con tent: smart aggre ga tion, cus tomiza tion and per son al iza tion, and a bet ter inter face.

Flip board not only came out of the gate early with a new kind of media brows ing expe ri ence, but it has been plow ing new ground since its launch as well. The app began as a sim ple way of flip ping through Twit ter streams and Face book feeds, but not long ago, it added sup port for RSS feeds, which expand ed the range of con tent avail able dra mat i cal ly. More recent ly, it has signed con tent deals with tra di tion al media out lets, includ ing an agree ment to carry Oprah-related con tent in the app.


(Sent from Flipboard)


Sent from my iPad

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