Meet Author, Leica Storyteller, and Photojournalist Salvo Micciché As He Shares His Experience On Flipboard.
I stumbled onto Salvo’s profile on Flipboard. I noticed we have many things in common. A love of history, philosophy, photography, food, and of course cats! Salvo is very active in our community I have been lucky to learn from his magazines. I recommend you follow him for his curation not only about photography but also his magazines about Malta and Sicily.
In this interview, he shares his experiences with Flipboard.
1. In a few words, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I live in Sicily with my family. I operate in Italy (mostly in Sicily) but also in Malta and Tunisia.
After classical studies, I graduated in computer science, so I followed literary and scientific studies at the same time and currently, I do research mainly in the historical, archaeological, and philological fields.
I’m a philologist, photographer (photojournalist), publisher, and IT consultant. As a publisher, I curate some online newspapers including Ondaiblea, the “Review of Sudest” (of Sicily) of which I am also an editorial director.
I have published some books and essays with some publishers (Carocci Editore, Brepols, Quasar, Agorà & Co., Biancavela, Il Giornale di Scicli). I write for some media outlets (mostly Italian) and I am very active in some social media.
2. What drew you to download Flipboard?
Flipboard mi piace molto, più di altri social media. It is very close to my publishing world, it allows me to create magazines and storyboards, as I do in my working life, it makes me feel more comfortable, compared to other social networks that I consider closer to chats than to publishing. In addition, it helped me meet friends, especially photographers, but also very active curators and artists, from all over the world, and for this reason I am loving him more and more.
3. How has your experience using Flipboard evolved over time?
Initially, I created magazines on Flipboard to reproduce (via RSS feeds) my cultural pages on Ondaiblea, so to try. Then I started with a photography magazine that was immediately very successful and a review with my photos, so I created others of my interest, for example on the food and culture of Malta and Sicily. Gradually my appetite grew and I created storyboards and magazines on various topics, from cuisine to semiotics, from cats to science, in particular mathematics and astronomy, two of my passions, and some magazines on cultural heritage to promote the beauties of Italy and in particular of Sicily. Then also books, naturally.
4. Where do you find the content on Flipboard?
For the content I rely on my editorial activity and on the stories in my online magazines every day, I visit the sites suggested by Flipboard and share the most interesting articles by inserting them in my magazines (or storyboards). I often take content from other social networks, if it is interesting. I add a lot about photography and many photos of my own.
5. How does Flipboard help you tell your story about photography?
Flipboard allows me to do organic, organized, focused work. I also have a blog on Medium and a photoblog on one of my domains on the web, where I write and publish photos, editorials, and events. Flipboard allows me to channel all this into a coherent space that allows me to propose to my contacts, friends, readers, and customers from a single source where they can enjoy the various themes of my publications. It is very charming and, I would say, very useful.
6. In your opinion, how does Flipboard compare to other news and content aggregators?
As I mentioned, Flipboard allows you to put different activities in a single space from which various information channels then depart. This from my point of view is very interesting, and other social networks do not give this possibility.
Years ago, no one believed in online newspapers and I was one of those few who argued that print newspapers were at the end of the line. They thought we were crazy, but then many understood and followed the wave. Nowadays I believe that even online newspapers cannot continue as they have done in the last 15 years, they must follow the fate of social media, and Flipboard offers tools to help with the transition from the old way of doing press, which I would call “monadic” to a new way, that is more shared, more social, aggregated in a new manner.
7. How does Flipboard help your business?
In the territories where I live and operate (especially in Sicily), I must admit that Flipboard is not as well known as it should be (certainly Facebook or Twitter are much more used, as social). I work hard to promote it. The relationship between my customers and readers improves every day. At the same time, Flipboard helps increase the online presence of my proposals (writing and photography), also (perhaps especially) from the aggregation aspect I see that my publications are much more widely read than before. So I can say that we are well on our way to increasing business. All this is thanks to the fact that I use Flipboard intensively.
8. How does Flipboard cater to your specific interests and needs as a user?
Particularly I can say because it makes me meet users who have the same interests and passions, people who love photography, press, books, history, and — why not? — cats, with whom I exchange experiences and sensations. People who admire my photos or hate them (and tell me why), so I can compare myself and grow and make better choices.
9. Have you found a unique niche on Flipboard that you may not have discovered otherwise?
I soon discovered, thanks to Flipboard, that my work for photography is much more appreciated than I thought, so this is becoming my main commitment, and for this reason, I am always looking for new ideas and suggestions. In particular, the photography of architecture and monuments of the places I frequent (Italy, Malta, Tunisia) that I thought was intended for a niche of a few admirers and tourists, despite everything, I am discovering that I can propose it to a wider audience, widening the “niche”.
But also, apparently more trivial aspects are becoming a source of interest, for example, the kitchen and cuisine. Speaking of cooking, I thought that, Sicilian and Maltese sweets were of little interest, and instead, I can see that this other “niche” likes them. This is the reason I am taking particular care of it. Again, I would never have believed this before, and Flipboard helped me find out.
10. How do you interact with the Flipboard community?
From the beginning, I was pleasantly involved in a dialogue with other users, and I must especially thank for example Mia Quagliarello who encouraged me to do this. So, I interacted with them with exchanges of comments on experiences and proposals. Now that Flipboard also has a channel on Mastodon it is even easier, and I exchange opinions daily even in this environment. I’m also proposing to some contacts I’m more confident with to contribute to some of my magazines on Flipboard, and I think this is very positive for me and for them and can bring even more followers to the social.
11. What features would you like to see added or improved in future updates of Flipboard?
I would say a simple thing, a better tool, more simplified, to control how many people follow and how many we follow (a bit like on Twitter) to be able to choose who to follow, because, at least in the desktop version, the current tool seems a bit difficult to use. For the rest, that’s already fine. I see that programmers and technicians are doing a great job, especially in recent months, making the graphical interface and usability of the social network much improved.
12. Share your Flipboard profile and a magazine you are curating
My profile on Flipboard is this: https://flipboard.com/@salvomic.
One of my most followed magazines is, in fact, the one on photography, Fotographers: https://flipboard.com/@salvomic/fotographers-fb5rb808y.
