February 21, 2013

The Huffington Post has unveiled a brand new version of its iPad application that plays up visuals and social media to create a customised reading experience.

As consumers continue to have faith in multiple platforms for news consumption, the app is designed to assist readers sync up their reading. Additionally, the app revamp is intended to plug readers into the conversations around Huffington Post content.

“We had not revisited the basics of the app in a while, and this was a very good opportunity to construct on what made our original app successful, but i suspect now we’re marrying it to a visually-arresting design that brings an incredible amount of value to the experience,” said Janet Balis, publisher of the Huffington Post, Big apple.

“This is a gorgeous form factor for the Huffington Post experience, but it surely remains evolved around our core values with a singular blend of content and conversation,” she said.

Mobile news
The revamped Huffington Post iPad app plays up a brand new design it really is aimed toward making navigation more intuitive. 

When users open the app, they may be able to decide to either create an account or log-in to their Huffington Post account. The account lets users sync up their Web and mobile experiences.

Consumers that don’t desire to create an account can skip the page.

The homepage of the app segments the publisher’s content into categories together with news, entertainment, lifestyle, technology and native.

Users are then prompted to choose their favorite pieces of content to customise their reading experience.

Information on comments and social sharing are showcased stronger in stories with the revamp. That is meant to indicate readers which articles are generating the foremost buzz.

Buttons around the top of articles let users tab through to Twitter, Facebook, Google + and email to share stories.

Users can now also favorite specific sections of the app and authors and bookmark articles.

Visuals and multimedia also play a robust role within the app’s revamp. To illustrate, new slideshow and video sections let users view photos, videos and tweets.

The app features content for nine local editions of the Huffington Post. Additionally, content is localized in Italian, French and Spanish.

The Huffington Post iPad app is out there at no cost download from Apple’s App Store.

Advertise on mobile
The new Huffington Post app has advertising options for both display and rich media units.

To tap into the intuitive scrolling of the tablet, the app also uses in-view advertisements that fit ads into the page as consumers move down pages of content.

With consumers reading news on multiple devices nowadays, mobile plays a large role in how Huffington Post positions content.

For example, Huffington Post launched on Flipboard last year with expectations to have half one million users. The media brand now has 1.2 million Flipboard users.

Besides the iPad app, the Huffington Post has apps available for iPhones and Android smartphones and tablets. The logo also has a mobile site.

“Mobile is usually part of the integrated brand experience that buyers have across all platforms,” Ms. Balis said.

“Mobile to us is another place for a chance to connect to consumers and join the conversation,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York

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