The designers of the very popular content aggregating app Flipboard have some good and some bad news for the people who use their application on the Android platform. The good news is that there is a major update to version 2.0 on the way, while the the bad news is that it’s already available for IOS users right now.
For those of you who don’t know what Flipboard is, it’s an app that takes content from both world news and social news from a variety of sources and transforms them into a magazine designed for your Android phone and tablet. This means that your personalized magazine will show things from your Twitter or Facebook feeds intermingled with articles from Rolling Stone or The BBC, all in one place and in digital magazine form.
However given that we won’t be seeing the update on our version for a little while, we may as well take a look at the improvements that IOS users will be seeing as soon as they fire up the app today. Among many other things, users can now share their Flipboard created magazines with “like minded enthusiasts” by making them public. This option puts users in the unique position of not only being readers but actually making them virtual editors.
Here are some of the highlights of version 2.0 from the Flipboard blog:
A new, visual Content Guide. Tap the Red Ribbon and you’ll see your own table of contents, all the magazines you’ve created, Notifications and lots of other goodies for you to peruse.
Commenting on Flipboard. Inside a story, tap the source’s avatar in the lower left-hand corner, to reveal Flipboard Comments. Draw in other Flipboard users with @mentions.
Recommended Reading. In Cover Stories, you’ll find More to Read, a personalized list of things we think you’ll love, drawn from your social interactions.
Subsections in partner magazines, newspapers and websites. On the second page of tablet editions, you’ll find new sidebars listing subsections for easier navigation.
Fast section switching. Tap the section name at the top of any page to reveal related content and subsections.
Optional Facebook Open Graph integration, bringing your Flipboard activity to your Facebook page in more meaningful ways.
They have also put together an informational, but a little lengthy, video to show off Flipboard 2.0 which you can view below.
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That’s a lot of new functionality for an already great app. So keep your eyes peeled for the Flipboard 2.0 update as it should be hitting the Google Play Store before long.