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Edit Your Own Magazine?

Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 12:46 PM

In the news: What does Flipboard's latest app update mean for magazine publishing?

Since its release in 2010, the Flipboard iPad app has helped to revolutionize online news reading. Now, in its recently released second edition, the app allows individual users to create social magazines from their own content and items from elsewhere online. Members can also follow other users' public magazines. "It allows everybody who uses Flipboard to help edit Flipboard," says Harry McCracken in a recent Time.com article. There are already over 100,000 user-created magazines on the app.

Does giving readers the ability to create their own magazines from other people's content pose a threat to magazine publishing? To deflect such worries, the app is trying to attract publishers of existing magazines to create custom, subject-specific magazines within the app and providing monetization tools. But, as Mathew Ingram of Gigaom.com points out, the technology might be abused by advertisers.

Read more about Flipboard 2.0 and social magazining here, here, and here.

Also Notable

Editorial Content in Apps

Recently, the Wall Street Journal posted an online article entitled "Pushing Editors into the World of Apps." The article discusses magazine startup 29th Street Publishing, which hopes to simplify the app development process, particularly for independent writers and editors in New York City. 29th Street's apps will allow smaller-scale content producers to create frequently updated apps for their content, thus allowing them to monetize previously "free" content. Read more here.

Magazine Publishing Explosion?

"It's simply the beginning of a new cycle of magazine content and delivery," asserts Jeanniey Mullen in a recent Appolocious.com article. She continues: "If you love magazines, it's all about discovery and great value right now. If you don't like magazines, this explosion increases the chances that you just might change your mind." In this short article, she touches upon the ongoing battle between print and digital and claims that these are glorious times for magazine readers and producers alike. Read her analysis here.

Social Media and Magazine Redesigns

How can magazines use social media to spread the word about a rejuvenated, redesigned product? This week, Stephanie Paige Miller of Foliomag.com shared ten tips for leveraging social media after a redesign. Read them here.

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