#FlipboardChat Summary: Using Flipboard Cover Stories

Jenn de la Vega / July 2, 2015

Every Wednesday evening, members of the Flipboard Club—an unofficial group of passionate evangelists—hold a Twitter chat about a Flipboard-centric topic. The chats are usually so informative and inspiring that we thought we’d summarize the tips, tricks and ideas discussed each week and let you know what the next topic is going to be.

Join in the chat at 7pm PT / 10pm ET via the #FlipboardChat hashtag on Twitter. If the time zone doesn’t work for you, join their Facebook group to stay in the loop.

Last week, participants chatted about how how they use Flipboard’s home feed, Cover Stories. Here’s what they said:

Do you read and share the same stories on Flipboard as other social channels or do you change it up?

• I share the same topics, but in much greater detail and depth on Flipboard.
• I often see stories on Flipboard days before they ever show up on Facebook and other sites.  Deeper dives too!
• I think that I share different kinds of content on Flipboard from what I do on Facebook and Twitter.
• I get my Internet cat fix on Flipboard and Instagram, but only dive deep into personal finance on Flipboard.
• I change it up.

What do your ideal Cover Stories on Flipboard look like on a daily basis?

• High-quality content from a multitude of sources, covering a wide range of topics, from serious to silly.
• Lots of images. Many more photographs than what we have now. Still very article-intensive.
• Ideally Cover Stories is smart enough to give me good reads based on my location, mood and interests.
• Some amazing variety to look, read, learn and flip.
• I love how Cover Stories shows me what people I follow are flipping. Always interesting.
• I like the tease “From” on the cover of Cover Stories.
• I like how it is random. It seems to find the big stories, but also others from people I follow.
• I like to see different stories, especially when it matches what I want to read at the moment.

What draws your attention to read, reflip or comment on an article in your Flipboard Cover Stories?

• If it has some substance to a mag I have or am going to publish.
• Compelling content, good curator, something new and different. Those things make me engage on Flipboard.
• If a story from a friend is interesting, then I’ll comment or like.
• A great headline, a good source and a topic I have a magazine for. Images also draw my attention.
• It works when the title and picture play off each other!

What’s your criteria for following on Flipboard, knowing the content will populate your Cover Stories?

• Great sources, great topics, awesome imagery. Something with an “ooooh” factor. Oh, and updated on a regular basis!
• I look for people, originality, mags or topics that have a timeless appeal.
• Mostly niche topics that are hard to find elsewhere, magazines with unique perspectives, or with a lot of GIFs.
• Must be a subject I really like. I have unfollowed a magazine to get it out of Cover Stories.
• Because I don’t have folders for all my tiles, I now follow friends, really interesting people, and topics I love.

When do you read directly from topics, profiles or magazines versus your Flipboard Cover Stories?

• When I’m on a time-crunch. Otherwise, I know I’ll fall down a rabbit hole and spend all day in Cover Stories.
• When searching and when I’m looking for content for my magazines.
• I try to check the topics I am following once a week. Profiles and mags I am more likely to view from Notifications.
• To see what variety of magazines or articles have been curated by others.
• When I have at least 30 minutes to kill and I want to dive deep into it.
• I go to my Cover Stories first, and then check out my tiles. Always News, but others randomly.
• Mostly when there’s breaking news. Flipboard often has a fast updating magazine when there’s breaking news.

How can brands and businesses on Flipboard leverage readers’ Cover Stories to widen their audience?

• Create and curate amazing, shareable content. Hi-res images, great titles, content your audience wants to share.
• The better the quality, the more topics they hit, the more readers brands and business will get from Cover Stories.
• Companies and brands should get people to follow your account on Flipboard for maximum impact, by sharing great content.
• If you create and curate awesome content, your audience will flip it and it will be visible in their Cover Stories. It will increase a Brand’s presence on Cover Stories.

In your view, how can Flipboard Cover Stories be enhanced to work even better?

• If there were a way to flag a story for later without flipping it, or just bookmarking it, that would be great.
• Have an algorithm based on the mags you have curated as a suggested place to flip it to.
• Would be nice to choose which topics to be in Cover Stories so that we get exactly what we want instead of “everything.”
• Maybe some sort of a preview or Table of Contents so you know what’s coming in the next scroll up/flip.
• Add Trending Topics, highlight stories and images with lots of comments and faves.
• Throw in a story from someone I’m not following. Make it pertinent to my interest, or a ‘promoted story’ if you will.

If you could only have one new feature in Flipboard Cover Stories, what’s most important to you?

• I would love to be able to customize Cover Stories. For instance, I don’t care about stuff brought in from LinkedIn.
• A “coming up” preview would keep me from falling down the rabbit hole wondering what’s next.
• I wish Flipboard’s Cover Stories included photos that people I follow on photo-sharing sites are posting
• I would like to see an index or content list.
• Sections that I choose. I need Cover Stories organized for efficiency. I may follow a food mag but don’t want to see food at 5 a.m.

~jdlv on behalf of the Flipboard Club

FOLLOW US ON:

FLIPBOARD / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / GOOGLE+ /TUMBLR / YOUTUBE / SOUNDCLOUD / PINTEREST / MEDIUM