Facebook has a new goal – to turn into a mobile-friendly newspaper. The social media website is said to be developing a new service. Its name is Reader and through it users of mobile devices will be able to view Facebook in a special format on their gadgets.
There is still no information about the possible release date of Reader. However, this service definitely shows that Facebook is doing its best to encourage mobile users to visit the social networking platform more frequently. Similar services were recently introduced by LinkedIn. The final goal is to keep users longer on premisses and show them more the ads, which translates into higher revenue.
From Facebook did not wish to make any comments on the topic. Nevertheless, a mobile-oriented project may be risky for the company. Currently, the social network is trying to boost the price of its stocks that continue to stay at 35% below their price of initial public offering.
Apart from that, the Reader platform is a clear sign that Facebook is aiming for a change. About nine years ago, when Zuckerberg launched Facebook, his goal was simple. He wanted people to use the site to connect with their classmates and friends. Nearly a decade later, Facebook continues to play the same role, even on a larger scale. Lately, however, the company seems to focus more or news content, real-time conversations and events.
A few days ago, for instance, Facebook finally added the hashtag service. It was already widely popular among users of other social media websites like Twitter. Through it, users can discover public conversations highlighted with key words or the so-called hashtags (#).
In addition, this year, Facebook redesigned its news-feed page. As a result, it now includes content from news publishers that is easier to notice. During the launch of the redesign, it was mentioned that Facebook would become top global mobile newspaper.
It is reported that mobile users spent very little on time on Facebook. In most of the cases, they either quickly browse through the content or post something and leave. News-related services may provide additional models for advertising on the social network. Presently, over 33% of Facebook’s revenue comes from mobile ads. Nevertheless, it is predicted that the adoption of this new service will not be easy for the company.
Many of Facebook’s competitors have already introduced similar platforms and are now even promoting them. The Flipboard app, on the other hand, is used by over 50 million people.
The start is expected to be difficult for Reader. This is due to the fact that FB users do not see the site as a news platform. The development of the service is reported to be going carefully and rather slow. The company wants to create a product that will work on both smartphones and tablets. In addition, it is looking for the best way in which to showcase the news content.
Also, it is said that Facebook is now making more efforts on developing the service for Apple mobile devices.
