In 2010, Flipboard was the iPad app of the year, and for good reason.
Their latest version, launched mid-December, finally brought about the ability to import Google Reader feeds and consume content in a manner that is both beautifully laid out as well as optimised for mobile viewing on the iPad. I've spent full hours on the bus home just reading Flipboard - it's that good.
Actually, allow me to rephrase that: It's that good for websites that have a full RSS feed and terrible for those that don't.
Let's examine this visually to fully understand how partial feeds provide a less than optimal viewing experience compared to full feeds. Just to be clear, partial feeds only allow some parts of articles to be shown, usually restricted to a short blurb or excerpt with the intention of encouraging readers to click through to the respective website to read it there. Full feeds, on the other hand, deliver all the content without you having to leave your RSS reader.
Here are the feeds of two sites I read often: IGN and The Weekly Crisis (feel free to click for larger images):
Which would you spend more time engaged with? The one that's just text mashed on to a page or the one that actually looks like a it's laid out nicely?
And if you clicked on an individual article, this is what you'd see (again, click for larger images):
Again, which would you rather be reading? (Well, you can't even read the full article from IGN, just an excerpt).
Flipboard's magazine-like rendering of content is what makes it so unique and actually encourages readers to consume more content. However, this sometimes is at odds with commercial sites because they want clickthroughs and more pageviews on their site, not via RSS (clicks and impressions sell ads).
Whether you believe RSS is dying or not (it isn't), Flipboard and the idea of consuming content on mobile devices on to go are both here to stay, and if anything, grow with the onslaught of tablet devices due out in 2011 and beyond.
You could make this consumption difficult for your readers in pursuit of short term goals (clicks and advertising) or you could leverage these platforms to genuinely give them a reading experience that will keep them engaged for a long time to come.
Your choice.