The internets are abuzz—or, at least, every tech and social media community online is. A whirlwind debut marked the announcement and release of Flipboard, the innovative ‘social magazine’ for the iPad.

The new and hot iPad app is, essentially, a personalized social media content aggregator and editor. What a mouthful. In basic terms, the app is a social media ‘magazine’ that streams relevant information to a user in a format similar to a publication, with different ‘Flips’ assigned to different social streams, such as posts from the user’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The startup tech enterprise (also named Flipboard) recently received $10 million in funding from angel investors, venture capitalists, and, none other than Ashton Kutcher. Which isn’t actually surprising considering that the founders of Flipboard are seasoned techies Mike McCue (former CEO of Tellme), and Evan Doll (former iPhone engineer).

So, after all the hype, what’s the verdict for the Flipboard iPad app? Totally overloaded. Released just days ago, multitudes have placed requests for the app—so many that developers have instituted a waiting list to manage the huge excess of demands for Flipboard. While some tech writers have heavily criticized this hiccup, suggesting that it is indicative of a major program flaw, the negative press has, by no means, slowed consumer demand for the hot new social magazine.

But what strengths does the app boast besides being in high demand? While it’s still early, thus far reviews of Flipboard have been very positive, notwithstanding complaints about the app’s still-limited capacity. Many reviews are decidedly positive, such as one user’s comment “It is sexy and easy to use. It keeps your interest, because it is a “magazine” about your interests for you” and another user’s remark that it is “really the first content aggregator that I have found compelling and useful.” Praises like these suggest that once the traffic problem is managed, the service will deliver an excellent and engaging user experience.

There are still several lingering concerns for the future of Flipboard, however, including the start-up’s revenue model. Unless the developers are hoping that venture capitalist funds will continue to pour in, it’s hard to see how the service will generate revenue, as the app is currently free to download and appears to be free of advertisements (for now, anyway). Perhaps the Flipboard creators will start charging a user or subscription fee? In any case, it seems that some modification to the revenue model is in order. For the time being, Flipboard also may suffer from its platform specificity—it will only function on the Apple iPad, which means (even with the popularity of the iPad) its distribution channel is limited.

But, all things considered, the new ‘social magazine’ app has the potential to redefine social media interactions by bringing all of a user’s networks, friends and followers into one space, with an aesthetically pleasing layout that users are already comfortable and familiar with. Interestingly enough, it seems that the Flipboard creators are capitalizing on the concept behind the Microsoft Kin, but with one very important distinction: people don’t want another device, they want an app—and that is where Flipboard may succeed.

So, while some obvious improvements are in order for Flipboard, we (at least!) are excited to see where the service goes, and, more importantly, how it shapes the way we use social networks.