Facebook looks to be working on a mobile news reader. The details have yet to be fully revealed, however the app is currently known as Facebook Reader and while it may share a similar name — this app doesn’t have anything to do with the upcoming shutdown of Google Reader. According to details coming from a recent WSJ report, the Facebook Reader app is said to have been in development for more than a year at this point.
Not to mention, the current comparison is being made to Flipboard. The unnamed “people with knowledge of the project” have said recent versions of the Facebook Reader app resemble Flipboard and that the app allows the user to swipe to flip through articles. Perhaps more important here, the app is able to aggregate stories from multiple sources and then ties those together with stories that have been shared by friends.
Taking what we know about Flipboard — about how it is a “social magazine” and we see a connection to something that Mark Zuckerberg said earlier in the year. At the time of the news-feed redesign, he said he wanted Facebook to be “the best personalized newspaper in the world.” That appears to be the path they are heading, and nicely, they are bringing a focus on the mobile side.
Representatives from Facebook haven’t offered any official comments, however it looks like this is a project that is being watch closely by Zuckerberg and that at times he has provided feedback and reviewed the design. While the comparison is being made to Flipboard, it seems the ultimate goal here is to provide users with another way of staying on Facebook.
Otherwise, the slow development process for Reader is said to be intentional. It was said the team is working “slow and deliberate” and they are attempting to bring an app that is able to deliver news to users in a form that works equally well on both a smartphone and tablet.
VIA: SlashGear
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
