Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Is Facebook Paper short for Facebook NewsPaper?

Thursday’s unveiling of a new standalone content curation app, Facebook Paper, comes after weeks of speculation and rumors about Facebook hiring editors (the humans in the mix) to help curate content for the hyper-visual mobile app. Now it’s real, though not here yet. Facebook Paper arrives in the AppStore on Feb. 3. That leaves us a few days to speculate on what Facebook is really up to and if, in fact, this is the social media giant ever-so-gingerly dipping its toe into the contentcreation / media company waters.

First, though, a little primer on the app. Think of it as Facebook Magazine, a standalone app that starts with your News Feed, but looks nothing like the familiar blue Facebook mobile app or web page. It’s full-frame images that seem to extend beyond the borders of your phone, videos that are ready to play with a tap, overlaid captions, posts from not only friends, but curated posts from Facebook editors who are experts in their fields and Facebook’s new topic areas....