Storytelling Through Curation
Millions of people use Flipboard to discover and share stories. I was initially hired to strengthen the company’s technology news coverage as part of its editorial team. Our objective was to curate content that informs and inspires.
Technology news is one of the most closely followed topics on Flipboard. Every day, I monitored hundreds of sources to identify what was happening in the tech industry, selecting articles, photos and videos from high-quality publishers and “flipping” them into Magazines.
Additionally, I helped other editors manage the platform’s breaking news push notifications and newsletters. Over time, my mandate expanded to include science, COVID-19, gaming, and racial justice coverage. This was on top of working on special projects.
My role also involved frequent contact with publishers, helping promote their articles on Flipboard and finding ways to better optimize usage of the platform. I skillfully built relationships with NBC News, ABC News, Axios, The Atlantic, MIT Technology Review, TechCrunch, The Verge, Vox Media, G/O Media, BuzzFeed News, National Geographic, Bloomberg News, Cheddar, CNET, and many other notable outlets.
Curating #Technology on Flipboard
I successfully expanded the existing @tech account. It initially had 30,000-plus followers and a variety of broad Magazines, such as “Follow the Money” (funding), “Breakthroughs,” “Longreads,” “Reviews,” “Opinions,” and “Tech Podcasts.” However, through my work, it transformed into a powerhouse account, now boasting more than 90,000 followers.
The portfolio of coverage also broadened significantly to include:
- Tentpole events including CES, MWC Barcelona, IFA, Microsoft Build, WWDC, Google I/O and Amazon Re:Invent
- How Russia’s war with Ukraine impacts tech
- Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter
- The fraud trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes
- The Creator Economy
- Congressional efforts to regulate the tech industry
- Antitrust issues faced by Meta and Google
- Silicon Valley’s battle with diversity and inclusion
- Efforts to unionize tech workers
- Thematic Magazines exploring Web3, NFTs, the metaverse, cybersecurity, fintech, Section 230, quantum computing, 5G and more
To drive app usage and traffic to important editorially chosen stories, I produced (composed and scheduled) push notifications. Subsequently, I delivered these notifications to more than 1 million Flipboard users who expressed an interest in “technology” news. Notably, these alerts achieved an average 1-2% open rate.
Complementing all of this, I authored and delivered Flipboard’s “Tech Briefing” newsletter every weekday. Each issue contained the morning’s top tech stories chosen by editors, a section with a reader’s feed personalized for them, a section providing deeper dives around the industry’s big news, and a dynamic module displaying funding stories, reviews, long-form articles, etc. This email was one of Flipboard’s top-performing newsletters, with an average CTR of about 1-3% and an estimated open rate between 30-50%.
Portfolio Expansion: #Science, Climate Change and COVID-19
In 2019, I expanded my portfolio with the launch of Flipboard’s science vertical (@science). This editorial profile covered developments in space (including commercial travel by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic), psychology, physics, electric vehicles, archeology, paleontology, medical innovations, and biology.
Recognizing the importance of climate change, this account became Flipboard’s hub for curating around this global emergency. I created several Magazines to provide detailed reporting on areas including environmental justice, the growing pollution problem, and steps people can take to help protect the planet. The @science account also featured collections about COP26, COP27 and President Biden’s climate legislation.
A supporting “Climate Briefing” newsletter was launched under my watch in 2020. Read by more than 550,000 subscribers, it provided editorially-curated climate news every Tuesday.
To coincide with Earth Month 2022, I produced a “Truth Seekers” project for Flipboard titled “The Reality of Climate Change.” In this project, climate experts curated articles around specific themes. Read more about this project here.
The science account gained nearly 40,000 followers.
In 2022, I championed the creation of Flipboard’s “Science Briefing” newsletter, delivering it every Friday and featuring select articles across several field-specific themes. This email attracted more than 260,000 sign-ups.
With the global pandemic in 2020, I launched Flipboard’s COVID-19 coverage. At the center was a Magazine that featured the latest and most important news about the coronavirus. It has been viewed by more than 1.4 million people.
I established a “COVID-19 hub” to provide readers with additional content to help navigate around this virus. It features articles about family issues, the impact on businesses, how to take care of yourself, and helpful explainers.
Launching Storyboards on Flipboard
Flipboard introduced Storyboards in 2020. These unique packages of curated content contain a finite number of items — typically between five to 10 items. I worked alongside the product and engineering teams to develop these collections, building out dozens of Storyboards and providing feedback to the team, all leading up to the official launch.
I helped onboard media publishers, assisted in crafting ideas, troubleshoot problems and boosted their Storyboard visibility within Flipboard. Additionally, I led multiple training sessions with NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, ABC News, The Atlantic, Axios, CNET, Vox Media, National Geographic, Bloomberg News and others to teach best practices.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I created daily Storyboards to provide updates to readers with 323 created to date. Similarly, I produced nearly 300 science-related pieces and more than 900 tech pieces.
Podcasting
In 2019, Flipboard partnered with media outlet Digital Trends to produce “Tech Briefs,” producing more than 50 episodes. Along with co-hosting the show, I identified and researched the top technology news we would discuss each week and contributed live analysis. “Tech Briefs” aired live on DigitalTrends.com and YouTube, and it was also distributed across Apple, Google, and Spotify.
Watch all the episodes of “Tech Briefs” on my YouTube channel.
‘Inside Flipboard’ Blog Writer
Oftentimes, I would publish articles to “Inside Flipboard,” the company’s blog, offering insights on important technology news and/or product launches. Some of my featured pieces are below:
- A New Way to Get Science News Via Flipboard
- Truth Seekers: The Reality of Climate Change
- CES 2022 Returns to Las Vegas in Spite of Pandemic
- Tech’s 2021: The Web3 Era Begins, Apple’s Antitrust Woes Worsen and the Private Fight over Space Travel
- How Apple’s Widget Push Changes The App Game
- CES 2021: What Stood Out (And What Didn’t)
- Tech’s 2020: COVID-19, Misinformation, TikTok, and the Antitrust Saga
- Decoding the Hottest Tech Gadget in a Pandemic Holiday Season
- Voter Beware: Why It’s Important to Double-Check Your Election News
- The Pandemic Didn’t Stop Tech from Debuting New Products: What it all means.
- Tech’s 2019 Year in Review: What to Do About Big Tech, the Tech Cold War and the Age of Foldables and Streaming
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