Rumors about the product didn’t specify whether Facebook’s news reader would be all news or whether it would fold in updates from friends. Paper will feature a combination of news and personal updates from friends. Daily Dot asked Flipboard what their team thought of Paper, but they have not responded, potentially because they can’t see the computer screen clearly through the tears. The swipe-based navigation and aesthetic sharpness is similar enough that you could squint and not be able to tell what you’re looking at, although Paper appears to privilege images more. The interface looks clean, easy-to-use, well-designed… and freakishly like Flipboard.

But looking at the video Facebook released explaining the app, a few things are immediately apparent: Paper, the first product out of the newly developed Facebook Creative Labs, will be available in the U.S. The timing was appropriate: last night, during the company’s earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the Facebook team emphasized the plan to focus on mobile, including standalone apps. All projects go right through Mark, so if it doesn’t get his approval, we won’t see it.This morning, Facebook announced its upcoming news-reader app, Paper. As a young person, this disinterests me quite dearly, but I know there are some of you who preferred a more simple time in life.Īs for release, the timeframe is set for January, although that could change at any time given Mark Zuckerberg’s direct oversight of the project. Apparently, it’s supposed to remind us of a time when everyone read the newspaper for their daily news. What is known is that the aesthetics of the app are said to be that of like a newspaper. What’s not exactly known for sure is whether Paper will be a standalone application or a web page that is optimized for mobile viewing. The source states that this reader has been in the works for quite some time, and was actually intended to be shown off around the same time that Facebook released their News Feed back in March. Paper, much like Flipboard, will be an aggregator, combining the web’s top stories, your friend’s status updates and paid advertisements, into a streamlined experience that you will want to read every morning like a newspaper. According to sources of Recode inside Facebook, the social network is almost set to launch a reader application, known as Paper.

Paper flipboard