How Flipboard Changed Everything

Not long ago, I subscribed to a newspaper to help a local kid get tuition for college. Over the two years of my membership, the paper arrived numerous times wet and retrieving the paper in the rain and snow was no picnic either. Although the policy of the newspaper required double packaging whenever rain was predicted, somehow a little moisture often breached the plastic wrapper. Rather than complaining, I chose the higher road and tipped the carrier more. Shortly afterwards, the paper began arriving with a tighter seal using an elastic band. In fact, it was wound so tightly, that you couldn't even unfold it without the paper rolling up again in a ball! While a simple message to the carrier would have likely solved the issue, the fact is, I only subscribed to help someone with tuition fees and never intended a long term commitment. Very often, I was too tired to read the paper at night and often felt guilty putting the paper in the recycling if I didn't at least glance all the headlines. Although I also recycled the plastic wrappers, each day numerous trees were being cut to print the paper and despite the notion of sustainable harvesting of trees, five minutes at the end of the day glancing the headlines wasn't enough to ease my conscious about the wastefulness of this practice.

Also a concern was the fact that nor rain, nor snow, nor sleet, etc., I still had to drag the wet paper into my house over the hardwood floors no matter how cold and nasty the weather was. In the end, I canceled my subscription and I can't say I miss the pollen, rain, snow, soggy smell or tiny critters occasionally invading my house. Today when I want news, I often turn to Flipboard instead on my tablet. For the few out there that haven't discovered this app yet, Flipboard (available for virtually all mobile devices) allows you to read online magazines and newspapers for free. With thousands of new magazines coming online each day, a world of nearly unlimited, engaging topics is always just a page flip away. No more wasted trees, pollen attacks or snow in my face - just great entertainment 24 hours a day from the convenience of my tablet.

With the advent of Flipboard, anyone can now publish magazine-like content at the click of a button. The app allows you to create your own magazine in minutes and re-feature articles from other Flipboard contributors quickly and easily. You can even link posts from a blog or other type of website with the Flipboard buttonbar. All this power comes at a cost. Traditional content providers like cable news channels and printed media now have to contend with the fact that anyone can look just as professional in minutes. With tons of free content that can also be included in your magazine, now anyone can appear like a media giant with minimal effort. Will traditional content providers be able to survive in a post Flipboard world? Although the app will challenge the livelihood of many, savvy content providers like Haskell New York Inc, have learned not to fight it but to embrace it. With the power of mixing both original and syndicated content together at your fingertips, smaller content providers can now leverage the power of Flipboard and its search to go head to head with even the largest content providers.