UK national newspapers the Telegraph, the Independent and the Express have signed up to Google’s Fast Flip experimental news application.
A total of 55 publications have recently been added to the service that lets users quickly flick through online news stories.
With around 90 publications now signed up, the service seems to be finding some traction, with Clara Armand-Delille, Google’s communications and public affairs manager commenting:
“We continue to engage with publishers on a regular basis, to find out first-hand how we can work together to tackle some of the challenges of the online world from a technological perspective.”
Fast Flip wha’?
Fast Flip dishes up a far more visual representation of the news than regular news aggregators and RSS feed-readers, serving up graphic screengrabs of articles instead of boring ol’ text headlines, with the option to click on to the real webpage, and then email or share the story with your chums.
There’s also a mobile version available, which we checked out when it launched in September.
Will Lewis, the Telegraph Media Group digital managing director and editor-in-chief was chuffed to bits to be on on the Fast Flip action:
We’re pleased to be part of this experiment aimed at improving the reader’s engagement with our journalism, by using technology to give readers a broader view of our content, delivering the important benefit of wider awareness of the ‘news’ – rather like flicking through a newspaper.
The Independent’s Jimmy Leach – who regales under the fabulous job title of “editorial director for the digital” – grabbed the mic and let rip:
There’s lots of talk about the future for online newspapers, and we’re all feeling our way to different answers. There are no certainties, but having more readers can only be a good thing and we’re happy to experiment with Google and Fast Flip as a way of drawing in more readers, making our brand more accessible to people and making the experience of reading our content a more enjoyable one. It’ll be very interesting to see where it takes us.
The Daily Express’ group internet controller Farzad Jamal was rather more prosaic and pragmatic, mumbling:
We’re participating in Fast Flip because we want to explore as many ways as possible to make our content available both to our regular readers, as well as reaching new potential readers.
Hmmm seems like a bit of a gimmick really…