Windows Phone App of the Day: Flud
You know how people say that the internet makes everyone a writer? Well, this app is why. Released at the end of March by Rabbit, Flud for Windows Phone 7 is a new kind of social reader that gives everyone a news personality. Gain topical credibility among your friends and followers by sharing the latest news. Flud lets you customize your news by following your favorite blogs and gives you access to your saved stories offline, so you can always stay ahead of the curve.
Pros
- Free!
- Sleek, attractive, easy-to-use UI
- Gain credibility among friends and family
- Share your interests in news, blogs, and topics
- Integrated social features
- Follow favorite blogs and news sites
- Save stories to read offline
- “FLUD” articles your love to share them with your followers
- Connect with friends and other Flud users
- See what other users are reading on their “Activity” feed
- Offline access your “Reading List”
- Add, reorder, and remove friends
Cons
- Not available for all phones
How It Works
- Download from the “News + Weather” section of your marketplace
- Open from your app list
- Read “flud tips” to learn how to find great news sources, how to use the flud button, how to create a reading list, and how to construct a great profile page
- Scroll right to view most fluded stories, find news sources, view your news, edit settings, and log in
- First time? Create an account by clicking the icon of a face at the bottom of your screen
- Once you create an account, add friends by connecting to a social network below; option include: Twitter, Facebook, and sending invitations through Email
- Select “Find News Sources” to browse news sites and blogs by weekly best, category, or search for specific outlets (I obviously added “Serious Eater” and “Geeks.Have.Landed”)
- Select the newspaper icon at the bottom of your screen to view your flud stream
- Click on an article to view and share
- Share by selecting the Facebook or Twitter icons at the bottom of your screen
- Select the “…” icon at the bottom of your screen to send the article via Email or to view the whole article
- Click on the “heart” icon at the bottom of your screen to flud this article to your followers
- Click your back button to view more articles
Conclusion
It took me a few minutes of playing with Flud to get the hang of it, but that might be because I’m overly tired today. While I think it’s a great idea and a very cool app, it’s a little tedious to use in comparison to, say, your Google Chrome homepage or even Pinterest. And, while I recognize that as a paid journalist I might be a little biased, but not every Joey in the world needs to have a voice on the internet. There, I said it. Overall, very cool, but if you have something stupid to say or share, please don’t add me on Flud.
Can’t believe I actually felt compelled to reopen this post to add this, but in the past two days, I have been stuck in an elevator and stuck on the subway underground, and I have used Flud both times. Awesome job, guys. Kudos. P.S. Thanks for the tweet! Keep in touch. My handle is @ATaylorWalker.
Thanks for the review! So glad you like our app!