Facebook is reportedly putting some finishing touches to its years-long project called "Paper" that aggregates rich news content and displays stories from leading publications.
Facebook's interest in becoming the "best personalized newspaper in the world" is no secret. Years of effort may finally be reaching its end as latest reports suggests Facebook is expected to launch a news reading app as early as the end of this month. The service will be known as "Paper" and is said to have certain similarities with the popular social network aggregation app, Flipboard. The unannounced news reader will either see the light of the day as a standalone mobile application or Web experience suited to mobile devices, a source familiar with the service's development told Re/code.
Facebook has not officially broken the news, but if the report is accurate then the social networking giant will make the announcement sometime soon. The Paper app will feature content from leading publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and use the Facebook's news statuses to add a personal touch to the app. According to the source, the app will feature a "paper-like" format.
In December, Facebook said that it will get rid of all memes and deliver more "high-quality" news articles in the News Feed. Since the project behind Paper was originally started years ago, the News Feed team took some bits and launched it mid-way. One such integration was seen in Facebook's redesigned News Feed in March, three sources revealed to Re/code. According to the sources, the project, known as Reader, is led by Facebook's VP of product Chris Cox and is under CEO Mark Zuckerberg's direct supervision.
Facebook's Paper app, if it makes its debut, will benefit the social network with better user engagement. If the app, like the targeted advertisements, brings relevant content by understanding users' interest, it can also boost user-engagement on the site.
