Flipboard teams up with Oprah Winfrey Network

Flipboard will now offer exclusive Oprah content in the very first branded Flipboard partner section

 Flipboard is making friends in high places. The company announced Thursday that it is partnering with none other than the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and Oprah.com to create the very first branded section for a partner on Flipboard’s front page. The Oprah section is in good company: every new download of Flipboard comes with recommended content from Facebook and Twitter, and now Oprah has joined that group.

So what kind of content will the Oprah section offer Flipboard users? In short: everything. Users will get access to behind-the-scenes episode highlights of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” as well as Oprah’s Farewell Countdown videos, which are available exclusively on Flipboard and Oprah.com. Additionally, users will get access to content from O, The Oprah Magazine, and Oprah.com, including articles, videos, and full-page images that they can “like,” re-tweet, comment on, or share with others.

Oprah content is currently available on the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, but with some limitations. While the Oprah mobile app (for iPhone and Android) and the O Magazine iPad app feature select content and video highlights from O Magazine and Oprah.com, they don't feature Oprah’s Farewell Countdown videos, which means Flipboard’s Oprah section will actually feature exclusive content that can’t be found on other mobile apps, including behind-the-scenes content of the Farewell season.

“This is a great way for Oprah’s audience all over the world to have access to and share content from Oprah's various platforms,” said Glenn Kaino, SVP of digital at OWN, in a statement.  “We’re excited to be the first in this unique partnership with Flipboard.” 

Launched in July 2010, Flipboard has raised $10.5 million to date from such notable names as Twitter-founder Jack Dorsey, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Ashton Kutcher, Kleiner Perkins, SV Angel, and more. The company is rumored to be raising funds as we speak for a clean $200 million valuation.

Currently operating as a free app for the iPad (and the iPad alone, for now), the technology curates content from the user's Twitter and Facebook feeds and arranges it all in a clean, magazine-like layout, complete with a simulated page-turning feature rather than a scroll bar. The company also recently added Instagram integration and plans to launch an iPhone app later this year.