Does Facebook look good on Paper?
As Facebook makes its first foray into the mobile aggregation apps world with Paper Suz Koch looks at what it is, and how it will work.
Facebook Paper is the first application from their Creative Labs. Currently it is only ‘available’ in the US, but there is a nifty little hack that can gain you access.
At its core, Paper is a news aggregation application that pulls in content based on your own Facebook connections, combined with content curated by Facebook’s editorial team (yes, they have human editors now!).
After being a fan of the Flipboard interface for a couple of years now I found the UI of Paper over complicated for no good reason. Swipe across,flick up, now tap and do the hokey pokey! I guess I will get used to it, but I want to be compelled to return.
I like the approach to clean up my news feed, it will be interesting to see if a higher percentage of content is delivered via paper than via the standard site (based on the ease of consuming content via a better interface.) There is not advertising at present which is great for fans bad for brands. I wonder how long Facebook can keep the experience “pure” before the feel the need to monetise.
Curation based on suggestions from the Facebook team doesn’t excite me, it would be better to see content / sources my friends have engaged with,
Good points, Joe. I do like the occasional flashy transition, although it probably runs the risk of looking a bit PowerPoint-esque if there are too many different kinds!
I’d expect native advertising to be their first stab at monetisation. It’s one of the few parts of the online advertising pie they’ve yet to get their hands on!
Agreed, native will probably be the way to go.
I believe they will also need an edit feature (to stop my “news” app being filled with photos of drunk mates and babies)
I don’t see this being compelling enough to drive younger users back to Facebook, especially on mobile devices.
Try again Mark!