Hi Hubbers,
I am quite curious to know that, when you started using Flipboard, did you find it completely user-friendly or you had to check out help repeatedly to proceed further?
I found FB really hard to use. Almost gave up, but finally figured out I had to create magazines. Then I got 2500 views on HP the first day.
I am a computer idiot (aka Computer Challenged) and at first I had a bit of difficulty figuring out if you could upload articles separate from incorporating them into magazines and how magazines were organized and laid out. I finally decided to just take the plunge and created two magazines based on subjects I have written on and put my articles in them. While I had a bit of difficulty flipping an article from a niche site this was ironed out. The rest seemed pretty user friendly as the layout is done automatically so I just needed to make a couple decisions about settings (e.g. leave the background photo the same of switch it with every new addition) and I was good to go. I know there is more to it than this and have been reading advice articles on using the platform (especially what to do to make sure your magazines aren't seen as spam). There are a lot of good articles and Youtube tutorials on the basics of using the platform. Check Glen Stoks article on Letterpile - it's a great resource.
I find it not user friendly. I can't figure out how to link the articles to their topics. Without being able to link my articles to dog training, they just kinda sit there not being read by those who would be interested. IDK. I never "got" Pinterest either. They are similar.
I found it quite un-user friendly, especially when moving between the app and website.
The algorithms don't make sense.
The method of adding content is confusing (I have the Flip It button now).
There's no easy way of doing most things (for instance, deleting or moving an article if you put it in the wrong magazine.)
There's no easy way of using search to find what you want and follow it (following a magazine for instance takes multiple clicks.)
I really like Flipboard for my social media management, as it gives me lots of content to schedule. However I find it very difficult from a social media optimisation perspective.
I gave-up on it. The articles it did give topics to, it placed under the wrong topics. Greek names for dogs is under Mythology etc...
I found it tricky, thought it was me or else, maybe, my machine, and deleted the whole business. I figured (still do) that I may go back and start over when I'm in not there because I'm too tired to do much of anything else (including clean up/speed up my machine). Later saw that it probably wasn't "me" OR my machine. Still may go back and give it another shot some time. I see potential for my own purposes (unrelated to any Hubs or anything else I may write or have written). Knowing ahead of time that it is a little tricky will, I think, make for less wild muddling and aggravation.
I am relieved to know that I am not the only who got frustrated with it the very first time.
Flipboard has failed all my logics. While using it, I couldn't predict what will happen next time.
I could not even upload a profile picture even after multiple trials.
I opened my profile page, everything was pretty fine; my description, all magazines were visible, number of magazines and articles were totally correct.
Twist comes in the story, when I refreshed my page and there was no magazines and description. It was like I have not done anything till now.
Then, I enter my '@' URL, check my magazines and return to the profile from the same page and to my amusement, everything is there. It is not tricky or un-user friendly, I think it's MAGICAL.
Pinterest is somewhat less complex than Flipboard, everything stays there, no matter how many times you refresh the page.
I'm also glad I'm not the only one flummoxed by it. I thought maybe I was just being a tech idiot.
I find it a bit 'clunky' too. But - I do like that I get caught up in articles and find myself following topic after topic, going completely off on a tangent and finding new things to read. I do not find myself doing that at all on HP. Even when you look on something like this Discussion, at the bottom will be Discussions of a similar ilk but they will be from 4 years ago! Rarely making me go 'ohh that looks interesting, I'll click on that' Just me?
I did extremely well with it at first, but now just get a hand full of views daily. However, I like to use it as a place to save articles I like to read. I have found the site awkward to use, however, and feel that it needs a lot of work in order to really function well for writers. For example, they cache the work you post, so if you try to edit it, you can't! Weird!
If you edit and change a title to a hub, it will update your flip eventually. They will update the cache the next time their bot reviews your hub. I talked about that timing issue in my Flipboard hub.
By the way, any changes you make to the caption of a flip will be there immediately. You just need to refresh your browser to see the changes. I mentioned that one too in my tutorial.
Magazines can be moved by dragging with your mouse. This is useful to put the best magazines near the top so they get more views. But if you want to move a flip from one magazine to another, the only way is to delete it and flip it again. Or you can leave it in both (no rule against that).
I still am not able to leave comments, either on my own or on other flips. Any ideas?
I had the same problem until I realized that at the bottom of an article, after a good sized piece of white space and in very small, pale letters, is the word "comment". WHAT can the people at Flipboard be thinking!
No, when I click on that "comment" I am not able to leave a comment. My topic article this weekend had about 6 comments, and I would have liked to reply to a few, and was not able to.
Tell me exactly what you see. It starts by clicking on "Add comment" at the bottom of any flip. Then it opens a new window and you place your mouse pointer in "Start a conversation" and type your comment. The you press enter.
If there is already a comment from someone else, you will see "1 Comment" or whatever number there are. Just click on that and then you will see "Add a comment" where you can type your comment.
Where in these steps do you get stuck? Hopefully I can help.
When I click on "add comment" a window pops up on the right side of my screen with a photo, title, the number of flips and likes, and a box to add the comment. However, there is no way for me to type in that box. I have tried to move my mouse there and click, have tried entering, etc.
Edit that: I just started typing in another box above where the comment is located, and it allowed me to comment. I am going to go back and delete a few flips, reflip, and leave some comments. Thank you again for all of your help in this area!
Glad my detailed description helped. I think I'll add that to my tutorial hub.
My flipboard views were down to a few hunded a day so I just added another one this morning. I was not able to leave the caption at the same time, but the edit you suggested did work. I just did so right away, and the hub is already posted on the "dogs" topic page, which has over a million followers.
Good for you Mark! Adding captions does indeed help get more traffic.
By the way, the app lets you add the caption when you flip an article. But when you flip using the website you need to edit it immediately and add the caption that way, as you discovered.
I wish they would make the site work the same way as the app.
It works for me and I also see comments left by other people. How are you trying to leave comments? There is no post button. You just press the return key. Do you see my comment on your reptiles as pets flip?
I have to admit that I use Flipboard.
But, I only use it as a free magazine, mostly for myself, where I can place links to articles I like on two main subjects; Cooking Methods (not recipes) and some of my lower performing Hubs on RV's and Camping. Its easy to use, people find them on their own, and I have a quick central reference to tell people about. And their method of occasionally prioritizing my magazines give me that kick every now and then.
DON
The use I have in mind for it (if I ever get my online-writing-only writing, and if it's ever not 90 degrees and super-humid out) is just for it to be a resource/link to categorized things that interest me as far as writing-subjects (mostly - maybe I'd throw in a couple of personal interests). I'd like an "additional-reading" type of resource to stuff that - if what I have online as an author (again, assuming I organize it better) - if people don't like what I have, or are interested in one or another category/subject, would just be a nice "feature" to offer associated with my page(s) as a writer. (I never really followed through with Pinterest because it's not as aimed at writers (or at least with the kind of stuff I write/plan to write) as Flipboard.)
I'd like my "online-writer name" (for whatever it is worth or not worth) to offer better balance to people who get to my page(s) (once I take a bunch of settings off, essentially, "Don't List My Stuff Anywhere" ) ) than just "about me" (and some of the usual social pages that I don't use because all I really do online is write. I see Flipboard as an easy (??) way to offer people all kinds of well organized (very legitimate and screened) resources related to my overall efforts (such as they are these days) with the online-writing stuff.
I don't care if anyone knows and/or searches for my name as author I figure if anyone happens upon a page and finds a resource beyond just "here's my stuff" (whether that's a Flipboard link or something else along those lines) it offers them something (without all the baloney that so many social sites involve - and without the "nothing" and foolishness that my present, barely used and personal, existing ones have on them.).
Dumb or not, I have no intention of ever promoting anything I write online on social sites. I do see Flipboard as an easy way to offer a resource of substance across one's "authorship" (does anyone even use that word any more?) pages, separate from any "page-exclusive", hand-selected, resources on any page.
It's a weird site to be sure, and I'm still not 100 percent sure how it works.
Sometimes I post links to my stuff there, and traffic will blow up like gangbusters for a day or two before it drops completely off the face of the Earth. On the other hand, sometimes I post stuff and it simply goes "pffft" and never takes off at all.
The "gangbusters" have outnumbered the "pffft's" enough times for me to keep fooling around with it, anyway.
I have yet to crack whatever the Da Vinci Code might be that could turn those quick blasts of traffic into a semi-regular stream.
In the meantime, I also post links to other articles/pix/pieces (from other sources, i..e. stuff not by me) that I find interesting and they've followed the same pattern - some have gotten lots of likes and "flips" and others just fall over and die. So at least I can take solace in knowing that it's not personal, it's not just MY stuff Flippers are ignoring....they're just picky.
Part of the problem seems to be how articles are categorized, and we have no control over that. I just found one of my articles on accupressure for dogs with arthritis on the accupressure topic board, that has a grand following of 252 followers! It would have done okay on the dogs topic board, but as it is no one even saw it. I saw another one about dogs under contraception, and on of SolarasĀ“s about dogs under pregnancy. Right.
I really wish we could change that. I can imagine where they are sticking some of yours. Your titles probably have to be very obvious--like "The Simpsons: Bart Gets In Trouble". If you added a hub about "Bart Gets in Trouble" it will probably get added to the topic page about subways in San Francisco. I imagine that one would go pffft.
Two days ago I sent a long email to the people at Flipboard voicing the concerns that many of us have and telling them that it is to our mutual benefit for them to upgrade their site to fix them. I got a nice note back thanking me for my input and promising to bring everything up to the powers that be. Let's hope it does some good. I'm down to 12 views a day from them!
Just thought I would chip in here to say that I received a note regarding the Magazines which were added to our pages, namely Picks etc.,
They said:-
We experienced some service issues last week that resulted in magazine behavior like what you are describing. Please clear your browser cache and restart your browser.
Perhaps our troubles are now over.
I see that you are not adding any captions to your flips. This has been known to help their bots tag your flip to the correct topic category. It's not perfect, but helps. If all it has to go with is your title, then it will make mistakes like those you just mentioned. It seems to put a lot of weight on the keywords in the caption.
Are you adding the captions at the same time that you are flipping your hub?
I use the website and sometimes I add flips using the app. One allows you to add captions at the same time as adding a flip, and the other does not. I don't remember which is which and I hate the fact that they are so different.
To answer your question, I add the caption at the same time if I can. If not then I need to go back later and edit the flip. But it takes a long time for changes to get reflected in the tagging, which is another problem with Flipboard at this time. So it's better to add the caption immediately.
There are other issues that cause it to get tagged wrong. I sent them a detailed report on my analysis I did, including some examples. I discovered that a link to an unrelated article can make it tag to that other article's topic. I also found that if you have seven or more repetitions of a word, it may take it as a keyword and tag to it. These things don't always happen, but they do influence it.
After reading here that some people are using the site to bookmark articles and sites, I decided to give it a try; because I'm generally wary of using sites just to promote my work. But it does sound like a good resource for bookmarking and maybe adding some of my own work to a magazine or two also.
So far the site is kind of weird, going to have to get used to it I guess.
by Catherine Giordano 8 years ago
I have a flipboard account. I created magazines. Flipboard says I have 20 articles posted to the site. Where are they? I'm trying to see them so I can move them into magazines..
by Eugene Brennan 8 years ago
Just wanted to share this. Someone pinned or "flipped" one of my hubs on Flipboard, a magazine site. So I've had a ton of traffic all morning. I made my own magazine and the traffic magnified even more! (currently 16 visits per minute). Might be worth looking into as an alternative...
by Paul Goodman 17 months ago
Flipboard is a bit like Pinterest, as far as I can tell. I get traffic from it occasionally and am wondering about trying it.
by The Write Life 7 years ago
How are you guys getting Flipboard traffic? Do you construct your magazines and then that is pretty much it and just wait for people to find it? Any good promotion tips?
by Dan Harmon 8 years ago
OK, so I hear about Flipboard and see some saying they get some traffic from it, so I sign up. I make a magazine, and put two hubs in it. I have no idea if I'm doing it right, but one of those hubs has an increase of over 2,000 views within a few hours. I want more, whether that...
by Glenn Stok 7 years ago
I noticed tonight that the Flipboard share button is missing on all hubs. I checked a few niche sites and they are all missing. It doesn't matter if you're logged in or not. In addition, the problem I reported a few weeks ago with Pinterest banning ToughNickel is still not fixed.
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |