For those with an interest in the future direction of digital publishing, a new iPad app launched yesterday and it is definitely worth checking out.  Called "Flipboard", it combines the elements of social media with magazine graphics.  It takes the reading suggestions of the people you follow on Twitter and Facebook, and places those in a very easy-to-use and graphically appealing format.  And it also offers topical sections (Technology, Fashion, Music, etc.) built from Flipboard's own lists of people who's suggestions would be worth listening to in those fields.

People who talk about the future of media often refer to the role that editors will play as "curators" of content. The idea is that there is so much information available now that we need people we trust to help us sort the wheat from the chaff, to point the way toward the news that's important or most interesting to us.  Social networks now play that role as well -- we count on the people we follow or friend to tell us what they are reading and point us toward information that will interest us.  Flipboard helps organize that social media curation and present it in a more visually satisfying way.

For more information, go to http://www.flipboard.com/ and watch the video.