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iPad RSS reader Flipboard has launched a new feature that offers media outlets the opportunity to provide enhanced presentation of their content with the app. In addition, the “social magazine,” which aggregates RSS feeds along with Twitter and Facebook posts, is partnering with OMD to integrate full-page, magazine-like ads into the reading experience.
The new content presentation feature, called Flipboard Pages, rolled out Thursday morning and is now live for selected media partners, including ABC News, All Things Digital, The Washington Post Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Clicking on a URL to one of those outlets provides the typical summary screen of the story, but now with a “Read Article” button at the bottom.
The full-article presentation is rendered in an HTML5 template design that looks very similar to what readers might expect from a news iPad app like the New York Times’ or The Wall Street Journal’s.
If this approach catches on, it might create a “third” option for publishers working on their mobile strategies. The mobile Web, which is easy to build and maintain and is compatible across multiple platforms, is the first. Native mobile apps, which can be highly interactive but expensive to build, would be second. Partnerships with “new” digital news stands such as Flipboard could be the latest.
Of course, it is only a likely option if or when Flipboard and its partners can build enough revenue to make it economically viable for other media outlets to participate. Flipboard has said: “There are no financial relationships between or commitments from publishers, advertisers or Flipboard.” As paidContent’s Staci Kramer notes, as of now the project is an experiment.
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