So You’re New to Flipboard? Here’s What You Need to Know
Inside Flipboard / June 30, 2015
Ah, Flipboard. So much information to read. So many topics to explore. Flipping through beautiful magazines, you’re thinking, “I could never do that.” Well, wrong. With all the tools Flipboard provides, even beginners don’t have to look like newbies. Here are some ways to ensure your Flipboard profile won’t look like it was born yesterday.
- Change your username to something that will look sensible on your profile. Flipboard automatically assigns a username. But if you’d rather be @JohnQJones or @DroneMakerJohn than @JohnJones63755, go to your profile and edit your account settings.
- Start making magazines. On your profile, click the box that says “new” or “new magazine.” Choose a catchy title. It can be a simple word — Dreaming — or make a point — Best Ways to Recycle. If your title has a word that is already indexed in topics, your magazine might show up when others search relevant topics.
- Find material to flip into your magazine by clicking on the + button. You’ll find the + button everywhere on Flipboard. It’s the easiest way to add content — but not the only way.
- Flip content from your Web browser into your magazine using the bookmarklet. Flipboard’s bookmarket adds to your magazine-making toolbox. You can frequently choose which picture you want to appear with your article. You can also add pricing for any items for sale to create a “catalog.”
- Connect your social networks. Even if you don’t have Flickr or 500px accounts, open them now so that you’ll have access through the mobile app to great photos you can use for your magazine covers.
- Comment on the flips from the people and magazines you are following. That will spark MagMakers to look at what you’re doing. For more social interaction with other MagMakers, you can join Flipboard Club’s Flipboard Chat Group on Facebook and tweet your mags with the hashtag #FlipboardFriday on Fridays.
- Discover more material to flip through Flipboard recommendations. Everyday Flipboard suggests articles and magazines that contain material everyone can flip into their own magazines. Tap on the red ribbon on your mobile or “Explore” on the top left of your profile page on the web. Flipboard’s Web design opens worlds of content.
- Use Flipboard search. Type any word, phrase or hashtag into the search box, and you’ll get relevant results from Flipboard, magazines people have made, and from the social networks that you have linked to your accounts. Now flip it into your mags.
- Keep an attractive cover. By default, Flipboard picks up the most recent photo from a flip for the cover. You can, however, set your own cover by pressing on an item in a mag to call up the menu and choose “Promote to Cover” on mobile, or on the browser go into the magazine in your Editor and choose the cover icon. Here’s a #ProTip from AidaB: A good cover photo for a magazine should have a fairly high resolution, and the best part of the image shouldn’t be obscured by the letters in your magazine name.
- Get to know your Web-based editor. On the Web editor, you can arrange your articles. Maybe you want to view them by sub-topic. Many mag makers use some form of chronological order.
What interests you enough to make a Flipboard magazine about it? It’s probably in front of your eyes or, even, inside your refrigerator. A great-looking magazine curated by you is just a few flips away.
Linda Bernstein is a professor of social media and journalism at Long Island University and an avid member of the Flipboard Club. On Flipboard, she curates magazines about everything from Wolf Hall to Ebola: The Hunt for the Cure to Miniature Worlds.
