Did you ever use Facebook's Paper
app? If so, then you might be saddened by the news that Facebook is officially
pulling the plug on said app in a month. And if you hadn't, or haven't even
heard of the Paper app, then you're probably the reason why it's going away.
The app—a lovely looking
standalone news reader—was an ambitious move by the company to get people more
hooked into published content. And by content, we mean that the app allowed
users to prioritize news articles and feature stories, not just status updates
from friends. Though the app had some novel UI elements, it failed to generate
enough traction for Facebook to really put much of an investment into it beyond
its initial release on the iPhone.
Facebook never developed an iPad
version of Paper, which you would think would be at top of its list for an app
designed to display feature content in a unique way. The app also never made it
to Android—a missed opportunity, given the size of Android's user base. Paper
is officially gone from the App Store as of today, and Facebook notes that the
app itself will no longer support it after July 29.
That's not to say that Paper
doesn't live on in some capacity within Facebook, however.
"We know that Paper really
resonated with you–the people who used it–so we've tried to take the best
aspects of it and incorporate them into the main Facebook app. For example, the
same team that built Paper also built Instant Articles—a fast and interactive
experience for reading articles in News Feed—using many of the same tools,
design elements, and fundamental ideas as Paper. Our goal with Paper was to
explore new immersive, interactive design elements for reading and interacting
with content on Facebook, and we learned how important these elements are in
giving people an engaging experience," reads a message from Facebook to
Paper's users.
As Tech Crunch reports, Paper
never really appeared to have a very wide install base. The app dropped out of
the list of the top 300 U.S. apps after a month, and couldn't even be found on
a list of the 1,500 most popular apps after its first year.
Facebook's move comes shortly
after the company decided to modify Facebook's timeline algorithm and
preference updates from one's friends and family over content from businesses,
brands, and publishers. It's a bit of a one-two punch for the latter camp, as
Paper—though not used by many—was at least a way to preference raw content over
friend updates.
"When we launched News Feed
in 2006, it was hard to imagine the challenge we now face: far too much
information for any one person to consume. In the decade since, more than a
billion people have joined Facebook, and today they share a flood of stories
every day. That's why stories in News Feed are ranked — so that people can see
what they care about first, and don't miss important stuff from their friends.
If the ranking is off, people don't engage, and leave dissatisfied. So one of
our most important jobs is getting this ranking right," Facebook's Adam
Mosseri, vice president of product management, wrote in a recent blog post.
Source: pcmag.com
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