After greater than a decade, Flipboard is including a brand new layer of social options to its platform. The service is including new commenting and creation instruments to its magazines as a part of a broader “shift in emphasis towards community and conversations.”
Flipboard has had commenting options for years, nevertheless it’s been pretty primary, and hasn’t been a outstanding a part of the service, which till now has largely been generally known as a spot to learn and share articles somewhat than a vacation spot to speak about them. But with its newest replace, the corporate is hoping to show its signature magazines into the kinds of communities you would possibly discover on Reddit or Twitter.
To begin, Flipboard is introducing “notes,” which permit customers so as to add authentic content material — whether or not it’s images, movies, hyperlinks or commentary — and add it to shared magazines. Other members of the journal can then bounce in with their very own feedback and add to the dialog. The thought, in keeping with Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, is for these notes to turn out to be vigorous areas of dialogue for folks desirous about the identical “micro-communities.”
The firm can also be including a brand new “communities” part to its app, which can spotlight magazines and particular curators (Flipboard’s time period for the individuals who handle topic-based magazines) to observe. All the brand new options are out now on the net, and are launching on its iOS and Android apps in January.
The firm has been quietly testing the updates since July. It says there’s already been a noticeable uptick in engagement in magazines the place the brand new interactivity is enabled.The modifications additionally assist make Flipboard into extra of an alternative choice to Twitter for many who primarily use the Elon Musk-run service for consuming information. McCue says that Flipboard’s new social options predate Musk’s takeover of the corporate, and that he’s nonetheless a “Twitter believer.” But he acknowledges Flipboard’s shift is well-timed as some individuals are more and more in search of totally different areas to work together.
“It’s not like you’re in a giant open town square, and everyone’s just shouting at the top of their lungs,” McCue tells Engadget. “It’s more like we’re the little restaurants around the town square and people are at different dinner tables talking. There’s a different tone when you have these smaller groups.”
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