Flipboard launches verified profiles and faster analytics for publishers

Flipboard has launched new publisher tools intended to help content creators better promote themselves, analyze the traffic they receive, monetize their work, and enlist their readers’ help in sharing content to the magazine service. All of this is designed to facilitate content discovery in the app, while showing publishers how much the company values them.

The first tool aimed at helping publishers stand out from the crowd lets readers know that they’re reading articles from a reliable source. Flipboard is beginning to roll out verified profiles that will likely serve a function similar to Twitter and Facebook’s current offerings.

Jack Mazzeo, Flipboard’s head of partner platform products, told VentureBeat that verified profiles are first being offered to publishers, celebrities, and brands: “We have already verified that they are the owner of that profile and one that should be distinguished for users looking for that person, publication, or brand.” More than 600 accounts have been verified, and the company expects to “actively validate content sources and providers.” If you’re looking to get that precious red check mark next to your profile, you’re going to have to wait — Flipboard isn’t taking requests at this point.

In addition to the verifications, the company has also updated the way profile pages look — including the number of followers, magazines created, and of course any verification status.

The company has also released more analytics, this time powered by Google Analytics. Publishers can now glean more insights about users who visit their pages and magazines and interact with their content. Instead of giving publishers simple monthly summaries about visitors and top articles, Flipboard is now providing near real-time data feeds about the traffic publishers are receiving on the service.

One of the complaints that seems to come up with the likes of Facebook Instant Articles is that there’s no way for publishers to monetize the content that’s being shared, as the platform strips away the ads. Flipboard appears to have countered that problem by working with publishers to help them sell advertising into their sections in the app. Today, there’s an additional way to monetize publisher work, thanks to an integration with DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). This new service lets publishers bring their brand advertising campaigns from print and web properties directly into Flipboard, perhaps also opening up an opportunity to use the platform’s Cinema Loop video ads?

Flipboard wants to create a dedicated place on its app that’s specifically geared toward publishers — to not only show them that it respects their involvement with the platform, but to help them track where their content is being featured. From a reader standpoint, it will be a centralized and public place where they can find content from the Washington Post, National Geographic, Food & Wine, Vanity Fair, or any other publisher. No longer will you have to scour your Daily Edition feed in the app, just query your favorite publisher’s magazine and get the daily beat there.

Flipboard is also now officially rolling out a module that showcases related articles after you’ve finished reading a story, something that VentureBeat first spotted out in the wild last month.

Each “End Card,” as they’re called, will feature three to five stories that fit with the article you’re reading. During testing, Flipboard claimed that 15 percent of readers who saw one of these cards went on to read another story within the app. This new feature is being rolled out now and will be available on Flipboard’s iOS and Android apps.

While the reader enhancements are nice, the bottom line here is that publishers have received a new set of tools to help them stand out and better monetize within the app. While it’s not necessarily a significant update, it does show that Flipboard is trying to woo more publishers and keep its existing ones happy.