Flipboard - what is this program? Flipboard in Russian

Relatively recently, an interesting program called Flipboard appeared on the Internet. What it is, so far very few people imagine, although the application is gaining incredible popularity among users. Let's try to consider some aspects related to it.

Flipboard: what is this program?

At the first glance at the application, many users will make an unambiguous conclusion that the program is the most ordinary news magazine or just a news manager. But this is only the first impression. If you dig deeper, you can find many hidden features that distinguish the application from standard news RSS feeds or clients to view the latest events in the world.

The Flipboard application for Windows (or the version for mobile operating systems that was the progenitor of the stationary modification) was originally created only for viewing news, but eventually it became something more. The point here is that, compared to regular news clients, the program looks like a magazine (even the page turning takes place, as in real life). But this is only one side of the coin.

Equally the same application Flipboard in Russian or any other language can be attributed to the category of personal diaries in which the current news, liked articles, videos or photos are saved.

Flipboard. What is this: a news manager or a social network?

Since modern man does not think himself without the Internet and registration in various popular networks, the creators of this program have found it necessary to add such an element.

Not only can the accounts be linked to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or other "social networks" or services, the key moment is to register and create your own profile directly in the program. And this only means that among friends, your friends can also meet.

Not surprisingly, the magazine has become a kind of community in which you can add other users to your friends, share news, photos and videos, leave comments - in general, there is everything that no social network can do without. This is the Flipboard program. What it really is, it's very difficult to say, because the application combines a lot of elements, typical for both news managers and social networks.

Main application features

If we talk about the basic set of functions and tools, there are quite a lot of them. So, for example, when watching the news, you can read everything in a row or current publications at the moment. Also, you can easily select a predefined theme (the list of topics is located in a special menu).

The application also has a built-in feature of recommendations, issued on the basis of analysis of readers' preferences. You can save your favorite publications, add them to your own magazine, share them, comment on them, put "likes", etc.

In addition, the program has a simple, intuitive interface and a convenient log management system in the form of a special panel. News is constantly updated, among them you can find publications almost from the whole Runet, including such popular publications as Kommersant, RBC, Vedomosti and many others.

The advantages and disadvantages of the program

Among the main advantages of the Flipboard application, almost all users note fast and simple binding of other social networking accounts, excellent design, usability and usability, high functionality, the presence of page flipping, the absence of hangs associated with bugs, and of course the free distribution . In addition, clearly says in favor of this application is that there is completely no advertising whatsoever!

As for the shortcomings of opinions, they differ somewhat. Some readers, who obviously do not understand the settings of the functional, complain that the application does not have the ability to download news for later reading them offline. This is not true. In the program itself, there is really no such possibility. However, it is enough to synchronize with it some additional service like Google Reader or Read Letter, as when you press the "Read more" button the article will be automatically saved in the service.

Mobile app version

In addition to Windows-modification, there is also a mobile version of Flipboard. The Android-magazine is essentially different in no way from an application for stationary computer systems. The settings are the same, the visual perception is the same, except that the screen size is smaller.

As in the normal program, you need to spend a few minutes of your time there to instantly synchronize all accounts (usually on mobile devices they are constantly in active state, which simplifies the task much) and select topics of interest from the corresponding section. Control is carried out with the help of the touchscreen (for example, the photos are magnified with a pinch).

In terms of design, it is worth noting that each selected channel has its own cover as an ordinary magazine, which has a main photo with the main news of this period and links to other publications with brief annotations.

Instead of an afterword

If you sum up some results, you can note the uniqueness of the application Flipboard. What is it (a social network or still just a magazine) is difficult to define, because the boundaries between the possibilities of "social networks" and ordinary prints are practically erased.

This makes this application one of the most popular among users of all age categories. Not surprisingly, in a relatively short period of its existence, it has won such a high popularity. Even in the mobile Google Play service, the number of downloads exceeds 100 million! And the fact that the program has great capabilities and even some kind of versatility, speaks about the professionalism of developers.

The only thing worth mentioning at the end is the general assessment and comments of the people who installed this software product. In the same Google Play service, the average score is 4.4, and some reviews are clearly not in favor of the application. But, I think, this is due only to the fact that not everyone knows about this program, and some simply did not understand the settings.