Flipboard 4: Beautifully Organizing the World’s Stories… for Me
Long before I started working here, whenever someone asked me, “What’s your killer app?” my instant answer was “Flipboard.” And even more impressively—after working at Flipboard for nearly two years—it still is. There’s a handful of topics out there that I want to geek out on daily, and there’s just no way for me to individually follow every source to get the full picture. From automobiles to movies, from design to the great outdoors—Flipboard consistently serves me up stories from the best sources around my passions and interests.
The best thing about Flipboard, the more you use the platform the better it gets to know you. I’m a car guy at heart and I also recently introduced my kids to Star Trek — only Flipboard would know to serve me up an article entitled, “Watch Captain Picard Sell You a 1995 Porsche 911.” I don’t specifically follow Popular Mechanics, I likely would have never found this story on my own — but Flipboard knew I’d totally geek out on this story and found it for me.
How, might you ask?
Well, for the last year or so, we’ve been working on a massive update to Flipboard based on how daily users really get the most out of it. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working closely with the designers and engineers on developing the next generation of branded content units. And I can tell you, this update isn’t just a refresh to the interface… it’s also a philosophical rewiring of how and why Flipboard fits into the daily digital lifestyles of our users.
Flipboard is at its very best when it’s used not just to read the news in general, but when utilized to dive deep into hyper-niche hobbies and super-geeky passions. Flipboard 4 is now oriented around this strength.
Rather than just getting a full aggregate of every topic you follow — whether or not it’s a true passion or passing interest — Flipboard 4 allows you to create “Smart Magazines” around a handful of your deepest passions. Smart Magazines find the most relevant articles for you from only the best sources.
I guess that’s it — that’s what keeps me coming back for more. If you think about it a browser is kind of a dumb app… dumb meaning, I need to tell it where to go and what to do. Flipboard is smart. It finds the stories that are perfect for me, organizes, and delivers them beautifully each and every day.
Give it a whirl, download it here.
