'What is Flipboard?': How the social news app and its digital features keep you informed

• Flipboard is a newsreader and digital magazine tool that relies on your interests to curate the day's biggest headlines.
• Unlike other news apps, you can flip through and read stories and articles on Flipboard like you would a print magazine.
• Flipboard doubles as a social network where users can connect and discuss news interests, including entertainment, sports, politics, food, and more.
• The Flipboard news aggregation app is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and Windows Phone devices.

Flipboard is a newsreader and social app that lets you follow people, topics, and publications important to you.

The social news platform began as a popular iPad app, and since its launch in 2010, it has become available across several popular devices.

The collaborative digital magazine tool builds a news reading experience based on topics you've selected, publications you follow, and past articles you've read.

Here's everything you need to know about the news and social app.

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How Flipboard curates the news for you

On Flipboard, a digital magazine is a collection of articles created and curated by digital news outlets like The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Axios, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and more based on their published content. Brands and individuals can also create digital magazines that Flipboard users can then follow.

Curation is a crucial Flipboard feature, and digital magazines can have multiple curators assigned to add new articles to a "collection." You can skim articles on the spot, or opt to save them to read later and decide whether your magazine is viewable only to you or to the public. Those set to private can be set to public later on.

On Flipboard, articles are displayed in a magazine format, meaning you can move through them just as you might flip through a printed magazine. And because photos are an essential part of the magazine experience, they're prominently displayed throughout the site and on the app.

What makes Flipboard a social app

Flipboard isn't just a news curation app. It's also a social network. You can share or like articles you read and see on Flipboard with other app users or to various social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Flipboard users can also comment on articles directly through the app, adding the engagement element back to the news reading experience.

The Flipboard app lets you enable alerts to keep up with breaking news and most-read stories across the web on over 30,000 topics. You can get notifications for news and social activity in Flipboard, including setting activity alerts for your friends, followers, and magazines. You can do all of this either from your phone, tablet, or computer's web browser using any of the Flipboard sharing tools.

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

• How to create a Flipboard magazine with all of your favorite stories, using the mobile app or website

• How to disable Flipboard notifications through the news service app and your device's settings

• How to delete a magazine in Flipboard on a computer or mobile device

• How to delete your Flipboard account using a computer or mobile device

• 'What is Flipboard Briefing?': How to use or disable the social news app's personal magazine feature on Android