Rumors have swirled for some time about the fact that Facebook might be developing a Flipboard-style news reader. Now, a report from re/code suggests that the social network might launch such a service, called Paper, this month.
According to “sources familiar with the matter” that spoke to re/code, the service will be “similar to Flipboard” taking the form of “either a standalone mobile application or a Web experience suited to mobile devices”. Essentially, then, it would be an aggregator of rich news and feature content teamed with status updates from Facebook users, wrapped in a “visually stunning format hearkening back to a time before digital devices.”
Apparently the service was originally designed to be a News Feed feature, but has now been spun off as a separate workstream, known as Project Reader and led by Chris Cox, Facebook’s VP of product. Re/code suggests that the new feature may appear as early as this month.
If—and it’s a big if—the rumor turns out to be true, it could prove successful for Zuckerberg & Co.: essentially, the site’s sheer weight of numbers could allow it to take the reader concept to the masses. And that, actually, could be really quite cool. Let’s wait see. [Re/code via Engadget]
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