Facebook has unveiled the first look at its brilliant news reader app, suitably titled Paper. The first news reader application developed by the social networking giant, Paper will be available for iPhone in the United States from the 3rd of February.
The application comes chockfull of advanced features and in several ways, serves as an efficient replacement for the regular Facebook application since it permits users to interact with and browse stories/posts from their News Feed.
Development
Facebook states that Paper is the first creation from Facebook Creative Labs which will craft “new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share.” Rumors of the app have been circulating in the industry since early January and the final product seems to confirm expectations.
Paper marks the beginning of new standalone apps from Facebook in the vein of Instagram and Messenger that were hinted at by CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Paper was developed by a team consisting of 15 members who worked on the application for more than a year. The project was spearheaded by Chris Cox, the VP of Facebook, and endorsed by Zuckerberg.
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Design
Paper comes with a Flipboard-style layout. The application consists of a brand new “immersive design and full screen, distraction-free layout”.
The current design is extremely attractive, especially due to the absence of ads, but Facebook mentions that the team is currently considering how ads can be naturally integrated into Paper since mobile advertising accounts for over 50 percent of its advertising revenue.
Features
The application exhibits curated feature content and news in themed sections to its users. There are over a dozen theme choices in the beginning, including food, photography, design, science and sports.
Facebook editors choose content in these sections from new and reputed publications. Paper will highlight posts by undiscovered yet brilliant bloggers, commentary by industry pundits as well as laymen’s opinions.
At this point, users do not have the option to add their own sources. They will view the same story as other users once they have added a section to their Paper but Facebook states that it is in the process of personalizing the sections so that users see more on their favourite sports and teams in the Score Section.
The intuitive control system on Paper allows users to browse stories easily through “natural movements”. According to Facebook, users will be able to pan through high-res panoramic shots simply by tilting the phone. The immersive experience on Paper will be heightened by the inclusion of full screen auto-play videos.
Facebook claims that posting content has become easier than before on Paper. Users will find it simple to “craft and share beautiful stories” via the new Compose mode, which even provides users with a live review of their post prior to sharing it.