Facebook unveils social ‘newspaper’

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Facebook on Thursday, January 30, unveiled its new app called “Paper,” which serves as an online newspaper for viewing and sharing articles and other content from a smartphone.

“Paper makes storytelling more beautiful with an immersive design and fullscreen, distraction-free layouts,” Facebook said in a blog post announcing the new service.

“We’ve also made it easier to craft and share beautiful stories of your own.”

The app, the first product from Facebook Creative Labs, will be available February 3 for iPhone users, Facebook said.

Paper presents stories and themed sections to allow people to follow topics ranging from news headlines to food to sports to science.

It has a tiled designed that allows users to customize the display alongside a personal Facebook feed.

“Each section includes a rich mix of content from emerging voices and well-known publications,” the blog post said.

The partners in Paper were not named, but a video released by Facebook showed a user scrolling articles and content from The New York Times, Time magazine, USA Today, the Huffington Post and others.

“Storytelling and sharing have been reimagined in Paper to show stories at their best,” Facebook said.

“Everything responds to your touch so you can pick up or thumb through stories with simple, natural movements. You can tilt your phone to explore high-resolution panoramic photos from corner to corner, and see faces and other important details up close.”

The app will allow for full-screen viewing of videos and will “make it easy to spot articles from trusted publishers and decide what to read or watch,” it said.

“When you’re ready to tell your own story, you know exactly what your post or photo will look like because you see a live preview before you share it,” the blog said.

Reports in recent weeks said Facebook was hiring editors or “curators” to complement its algorithmic method of delivering content to its users. – Rappler.com