Now Showing: All-Time “Reader” Counts for Your Flipboard Magazines

It’s been five months since we launched Flipboard magazines, and we’ve been absolutely blown away by the response they’ve generated.

More than 3 million Flipboard magazines have already been created, on topics that range from Apple to Zoology. We’ve seen household-names like Al Gore, and Linkin Park unveil magazines on Flipboard, while talented MagMakers like Bonnie Rush and Mark Prince have emerged as our own homegrown rockstars. We haven’t seen any MagMaker marriages yet, but our fingers are crossed (and we’re confident it’s just a matter of time).

We’ve also received lots of valuable feedback from our MagMaker community about what we can do to make Flipboard magazines even better. One of the most common suggestions we’ve heard is the desire to have a more consistent way to evaluate how many people are reading your magazines.

Happily, on September 17, Flipboard updated one way you track the growth of your Flipboard magazines. Going forward, the “readers” statistic that appears on the cover of every Flipboard magazine will reflect the all-time number of people who have seen content from each magazine since it was created — similar to the way YouTube shows an all-time count of video views.

The other cover statistics remain unchanged. When we put it all together, this is the data now associated with each Flipboard magazine:

Readers: A measurement of reach. Counts the all-time number of individuals who have accessed content from the magazine.

Flips: A measurement of engagement. A Flip occurs every time a reader views a page of magazine content.

Articles: The total number of content items (articles, photos, status updates, etc.) included in the magazine.

The updated “reader” count will take place automatically, so you don’t need to update your Flipboard or change your settings. That said, it may take a few hours for the new count to appear on your magazines on Tuesday, so thanks for your patience while the change takes effect.

Overall, this is just a first step toward giving Flipboard MagMakers more tools and resources to track the success of their magazines. We have lots of ideas, and plenty of work to do, but in the meantime, please continue to share your comments and suggestions.

Many thanks, and happy flipping!

Cover Image: Cool Photography Stuff by Scott Kelby and Brad Moore