January 31, 2014

Facebook has just released a mobile news application called Paper, and while news apps have typically struggled to catch on with consumers, the social media giant may need the ability and sway to take over the mobile news world.

Through the Paper app, consumers can follow their interests and think about content from various different publications in addition to share their very own stories. a variety of other companies have taken a stab on the mobile news app, but Facebook just can have what it takes to set up itself as a pace-setter within the space if it may possibly tackle find out how to curate content for mobile.

“As in their third-quarter earnings call in 2013, Facebook had 1.19 billion monthly active users; whatever the way you analyze it, that’s a really large user base to introduce a news-focused app to,” said Jay Hawkinson, senior vp of emerging products at SIM Partners, Evanston, IL.

“But perhaps more important, these users are very active, often logging in multiple times per day — if not staying logged in all day — making Facebook a natural source for news consumption,” he said. “Most users already check Facebook every morning after they awaken after which multiple times through the day anyway; feeding the highest news stories to those folks jointly could create a win-win situation for both Facebook and its users.

“Add in Facebook’s potential to leverage user data to raised serve applicable content while giving users the power to ‘Like’ featured news and Facebook can zero in at the most relevant news stories to serve individuals. That potential alone can be a powerful draw for users.”

Paper
Paper is the primary product from Facebook Creative Labs. It is going to be available for the iPhone on Feb. 3 within the U . s ..

The the first thing users see in Paper is their Facebook News Feed, where they could share stories in addition to like and touch upon things. They could also create posts within the app so as to be published on Facebook in addition.

“We would like to connect individuals with the content that’s best to them,” said Jillian Stefanki, spokeswoman at Facebook, Menlo Park, CA. “That means in case you read a number of news, as an instance, you have to see more news higher up in News Feed. 

“We’re recuperating at showing people the stuff they need to work out, and you’ll discover content which you didn’t already know was on Facebook,” she said. “We also desire to connect people directly with the folk considering content.

“News reader apps are usually one directional. Paper, however, is a network that connects individuals who share interesting content – from news stories to photo essays to recipes – with people interested by those stories.”

In theory, Facebook may be in a position to leverage its enormous user base and wealth of knowledge to bring personalization to mobile news, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Paper will automatically be an enormous success.

Users can add sections in keeping with themes and interests

Challenges
While Facebook has lots of backing going into Paper, there are still plenty of challenges in terms of making a mobile news app.

The first issue is how will the app personalize the content for users. Algorithms in response to likes and shares is probably not enough.

“Facebook might want to crack how news is curated,” said Mark Brennan, head of mobile at Manning Gottlieb OMD, London. “Content that may be just sourced algorithmically doesn’t always work, and generating news interests from people’s likes won’t make sense.

“But in the event that they can start gathering data from publishers who push news into Facebook, start mapping out interests that way, but add a degree of humanistic journalism that reflects local cultural needs and perspectives,” he said.

Another interesting challenge is that customers are likely to read the scoop on mobile Web in preference to in native apps. In keeping with Flurry, news app usage has only grown 31 percent year-over-year.

“People’s news consumption mirrors their browsing behavior online, but more frequently, and at more straightforward times,” Mr. Brennan said. “The Mail Online mobile site as an example has five times as many monthly users because the app, but their app is among the biggest inside the UK.

“People like getting information from various news sources, so in an age where persons are more wary concerning the volume of apps they permit on their homescreen, unless your loyal to at least one news source, you’re prone to browse the net,” he said.

Another question is whether Facebook will apply data from users’ profiles to Paper or whether it is going to be break free the social media site.

“Does each user start with a clean slate, or will Facebook depend upon existing user engagement data to try matching content to user preference right off the bat” SIM Partners’ Mr. Hawkinson said. “Either route can be problematic to a point: With a blank slate, users can be overwhelmed by the initial wave of stories until they manually narrow it down; using existing user engagement data could return irrelevant news stories as users may engage differently with friends and brand pages than they do with news.”

Users may also access news stories from round the world

Facebook advantage
On the opposite hand, Facebook obviously has loads of advantages going into the mobile news space.

“Facebook’s mega reach, coupled with the quantity of time users spend within the Facebook app will result in many folk getting their ‘snackable’ news from Facebook,” said Rob Hoxie, vp of commercial development and partnerships at Atimi, Vancouver, Canada. “Since Facebook users are trained to ‘Like,’ share or touch upon posts, the feed will likely cater to individual preferences and opinions better than most sites.”

The undeniable fact that Facebook is starting out by personalizing the scoop can also give the corporate the higher hand.

Publishers inclusive of BuzzFeed and Forbes have began to bring some type of personalization or social to their apps, but these features are on the forefront of Paper before it even launches.

“Current news apps are likely to still have a printed mentality where all of the news goes to everyone,” Mr. Hoxie said. “Your preferences are limited. Within the more time sensitive mobile setting, users have even less patience for impertinent info than normal.

“Given Facebook users create content, which Facebook se’s have access to, Facebook has the chance to more intelligently display news that’s more relevant to individuals over the years,” he said.

While Facebook certainly has some challenges to contemplate, whether it is ready to leverage its current user base and selection of consumer data, it could be ready to make Paper the usual news aggregator for mobile consumers.

“The richness of Facebook’s user data is unparalleled within the industry,” said Mike Scotto, director of Resolution Media, La. “As a result, Facebook’s ability to serve relevant content – within the variety of posts, ads, and now trends – has improved significantly in 2013. 

“Therefore, serving news in accordance with one’s connections, location, and overall/recent activity throughout its network will be a natural extension of its services,” he said. “It will let them capture additional eyeballs, spending more time on its platform and thus attract incremental advertising dollars.” 

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York