by zyb09 on 1/30/14, 1:12 PM
Man, that video, typical marketing bullshit. First scene shows a guy writing on a typewriter, next scene shows someone hanging up Polaroid pictures. Seriously? Show me why this app is useful and why I need it, instead of trying to lull me into a world that doesn't exist.
by austenallred on 1/30/14, 3:07 PM
I'm not sure why so many are describing this as a "news" app - it's pretty obviously a refresh of the Facebook design, and a much-needed one at that.
At the given time 25% of Facebook is taken up by various buttons and controls; there's a lot you can do and a lot of places you can navigate to from Facebook's homepage. It was obviously designed for desktop, and then ported over to mobile. After a couple refreshes the app was usable, but not exactly an enjoyable experience. So "Paper" is how Facebook would look if it were driven by designers and mobile first (if you need any more evidence that this was very design-driven, look at the marketing video. Typewriters, polaroids, naked woman in bathtub, lens flares and blur... it is, in a word, "hipster.") They also seem to have knocked off Flipboard a little bit and let you see collections of other stories. We'll see how well that takes off, but my assumption is that since it was barely mentioned it will be a minor factor in the new app, and I can't see myself using it.
The big move is from a lot of buttons and toggles on a screen to a more "swipe-friendly" UI/UX. That makes sense for mobile, but it's a big change. Something like that has to be intuitive, or it's a nightmare to use.
It's important to note that in Facebook's earnings call yesterday it revealed that mobile revenue surpassed desktop revenue for the first time ever. This new app has stories big, beautiful, and in-your-face. That means that ads will be the same way, and will likely drive a premium price. Brilliant in terms of monetization from the Facebook team.
by sambeau on 1/30/14, 12:28 PM
by RyanZAG on 1/30/14, 12:41 PM
I'm impressed by how much CPU this website is able to use. It pegged all 8 cores at 100% while I had the website open on firefox/win7
by meshko on 1/30/14, 1:30 PM
I watched the video. I don't understand what paper is.
Actually, the only reason I watched it was because I somehow confused myself into thinking this was Amazon.
When I was done with the video, I finally realized this is Facebook and it all made sense.
I still don't know what "paper" is of course.
Now I need my coffee.
by jccalhoun on 1/30/14, 1:12 PM
When did "beautiful storytelling" become code for "a big picture near the top and then plain text on a white background?"
by kyro on 1/30/14, 12:43 PM
I'm excited to give this a spin, and that's saying a lot considering I haven't touched FB in a few years now. It's nice to see them innovating with new ideas and products, instead of iterating on their existing main platform.
What's interesting is that their mobile strategy involves grabbing as much of your screen real estate as possible, with the FB app, FB Messenger, Instagram, and now Paper. I guess that was obvious when they tried the whole Facebook phone thing.
by quaffapint on 1/30/14, 12:32 PM
Does seem like a fluid UXD. Shame android is second class citizen again, and you have to be on facebook to use it.
Hopefully if it does pan out as well as the video shows, other apps like flipboard will start incorporating its flow.
by tremendo on 1/30/14, 12:52 PM
Pretty. I like the UI innovative touches for flipping through content, panning pictures, etc. The video does a good job of selling it. Alas, not for me.
It seems to me a type of app better suited perhaps to the tablet format. Personally I'm over consuming content like this on my phone. In most cases I may skim something quickly and if it really catches my attention then I'll wait until I'm on a bigger screen to explore it further.
The Share section tries to make the point of "the most important stories… your own" and it's a good one, well presented. From my own personal experience though I believe that most of the people I follow online, whether prolific or not, will not dedicate a lot of time to "production" work as in selecting headlines, backgrounds for those headers, more than a couple of beautiful pictures (they never really come out as good as presented), etc. to create a flip-book like these. This will be a good medium for… commercial producers? as shown, the CNNs, Time magazines, of course the Verge, Engadgenet, etc, and that's what I'd end up consuming only to finally uninstall.
But I know, that's just me, and my 2 cents.
by yanivt on 1/30/14, 2:26 PM
What a bunch of grumpy old men. I bet everybody sitting here taking shots at this app 1) have never created anything nearly as cool 2) would not have understood Apple in its hayday 3) spend too much time reading and taking shots at other people's work.
I'm all for being cynical and questioning what's out there but you have to let the good stuff through. The design here is first class. The Facebook guys have outdone themselves. Yes, it's a culmination of a large body of work that's come before with a few novel improvements. That's how art works. Quit bitching and do something useful.
/rantoff
by joe_the_user on 1/30/14, 9:19 PM
Hmm,
Of my 300+ Facebook friends, one guy consistently posts the stereotypical millenial thing described here of "beautiful hike on the coast with Sharon". If someone else started doing that, I'd probably have to cut one of them off.
Fewer friends seem to have real pictures of themselves and more have cartoons, cats and memes.
This format looks great for presenting what people imagine as a great Facebook post. But I actually think the majority of people don't use Facebook for this - the hippest are already off Facebook and, well, good riddance.
by blueskin_ on 1/30/14, 12:55 PM
Worst info site ever. I can't even tell what it is.
An app? a model of phone? a website? a new facebook feature?
by jere on 1/30/14, 1:47 PM
>Explore and share stories from friends and the world around you.
Stories...? Or memes and ads?
by vkb on 1/30/14, 3:04 PM
I've been blogging for over five years. I'm also an avid Facebook user in that I try to post statuses that are interesting and relevant to my audience instead of just the usual "I ate a grilled cheese for lunch and now I feel feelings about it". I also, as of recently, ironically own a typewriter and I am working on a novel. Basically, I love creating content.
Theoretically, I am the target market for this product because it's supposed to lure me into divulging more longform-ish content to Facebook and creating narratives about it.
I was completely repelled by the ad, not only because I still don't see how this product differentiates from Facebook_regular, but because of the vast array of hipsters doing things that have nothing to do with actual Facebook. If you like photography and animation and writing in the Real World, why would you want to move that content to Facebook? If you create content digitally, why would you want to do it on anything except for a platform you own?
Moreover, I was horrified to see that woman not only Facebooking ("Papering?") in the bathtub, but sharing pictures of her fetus, which could then be enlarged by anyone who cares enough.
2014. What a world.
by erikb on 1/30/14, 12:38 PM
this looks like an idea that was tried so many times and people just don't care. I think about smart tags in GMail here, or circles. Most people simply don't micromanage their data flows according to topics. Maybe I simply don't get the difference here, but if I am right, then I am deeply disappointed and frustrated to see people spend money and smart developers' time into ideas that already failed years ago.
by danabramov on 1/30/14, 12:29 PM
Are we already out of original app names?
by grey-area on 1/30/14, 12:19 PM
Some beautiful design and thoughtful UI in the app here, and this is also a lovely microsite - I love the use of the video full screen. It'd be great to see some of this sort of thoughtful design go into the UI of web browsers on mobile platforms (which are also platforms for reading and sharing stories).
Shame it's from Facebook.
by danielbraun on 1/30/14, 1:03 PM
Great! Yet another innovative way to view cat pictures and selfies.
It's funny how the users in the video aren't even reading their stories.
by krelian on 1/30/14, 2:06 PM
I can't wait for the next trend in app/services marketing. I'm tired of:
Introducing %word% , bla bla bla beautiful bla bla bla Share. Coupled with short sentences over a huge iOS/ OS X images.
It feels as if this has been here forever.
by S_A_P on 1/30/14, 2:43 PM
Regardless of the FB hate that seems to be spreading in this forum the app itself has a lot to appreciate. Im not a facebook user, and I'm not sure how much of this will really get used by the average facebook user. However, this iOS app appears to be very well done, and if it behaves as well as the demo shows is a nice benchmark for mobile app UX. It actually makes me want to start digging into the new iOS 7 APIs.
by Nate630 on 1/30/14, 1:43 PM
Yet another way to view text, images, and video. For me, really comes down to the content. Does the content interest me? - I can't tell by the site.
by hrktb on 1/30/14, 12:45 PM
It's funny they choose to tease it, instead of aving an 'get it now' call to action from day one [edit: I would have tried it now as I see it for the first time, I'm not sure I'll care for another content feed app in 3 days, especially as it will have discussed to death in meantime]. And I don't get the link between the name and the app. Is it paper as in newspaper ?
by robodale on 1/30/14, 1:42 PM
The same pompous shit that come from these companies. Holy fuck I don't care.
by leoplct on 1/30/14, 12:53 PM
Flipboard should be very excited about it :) #sarcasm
by gagege on 1/30/14, 12:24 PM
The video was choppy and froze part way through. Seems to happen to me a lot with these types of websites. On different computers, even.
by jackmaney on 1/30/14, 3:03 PM
Garbage like this actually has an effect on me that's the exact opposite of what's intended: I will, under no circumstances whatsoever, ever use any product from Facebook with the name "paper" in it.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sell_generation
by GeorgeMac on 1/30/14, 1:55 PM
Is it me, or is it just facebook with news feeds and a nice big handful of gestures. Their must be a massive increase in RSI due to hundreds of apps/interfaces with different gesture controls. I don't know if my muscle memory has anymore room for this app. Im going to end up loosing important things, like konami codes...
by liamgooding on 1/30/14, 7:37 PM
by plg on 1/30/14, 1:10 PM
The underlying assumption at FB seems to be that people are interested in (something like a) magazine but one curated not by professional journalists, designers and advertisers but rather curated by uncle joe, grandma bessie, etc. I know which magazine I'd rather read.
by urs2102 on 1/30/14, 1:53 PM
As a new frontend programmer, what kind of libraries did Facebook use to create a page like this with full screen video/the "explore" page which has thumb moving on it? Was it a type of JS? Was it Flash? Just wondering...
by brandonmcane on 1/30/14, 2:17 PM
So, for one, I had to watch the video twice to try to figure out what the app actually does. Though, I suppose maybe that's just my own ineptitude. Because I'm still not sure what it does.
Secondly, what is the market for this? I can already make my own "paper" type thing with Flipboard or the myriad other options on the market. Considering this seems like something I need to not only download, but take time to customize, does Facebook expect people to switch right on over to them?
Why can't I just go on Facebook or Twitter and see what stories my friends are sharing? That's the point, isn't it? I don't get it.
by maaarghk on 1/30/14, 1:48 PM
When the girl in the bath came on screen I remembered I was watching a video of a bunch of people who are addicted to their f'ing iPhones. And then I felt like I was watching an episode of Black Mirror.
by dublinben on 1/30/14, 3:56 PM
Here's the source video on Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/85421325For some reason I was redirected there in IE11, after both Firefox and Chrome crashed.
by mayankkumar on 1/30/14, 12:36 PM
Take that, Princeton report!
by exodust on 1/31/14, 12:36 PM
Can't we wait for it to exist and then talk about it?
Who knows whether it will be intuitive or not. Can't tell from that video. My phone isn't as still as the one in the video,
I don't like too much swiping of little bits and pieces all the time. Tap, swipe, all day long.. just show me the content and stop making a zilion forks in the road. You're making me put my hand in front of the screen every 2 seconds, it looks like hard work to me... all that swiping and endless mashup of random stuff.
Is it news? Is it noise? Is it noisy news?
by matthuggins on 1/30/14, 2:58 PM
Curious to see what this is since the video left me fucking clueless!
by k-mcgrady on 1/30/14, 3:12 PM
According to The Verge not only is this iPhone only - it's US ONLY! Seriously a news reader app limited by location. Can anyone come up with a half sane reason they are doing that?
by andyjohnson0 on 1/30/14, 1:01 PM
Is this a native app or a web app running in a browser? I watched the video (at work, so without sound) and I can't tell. If its browser based then I'm extremely impressed.
by jamesmoss on 1/30/14, 12:52 PM
Anybody know how they kept the phone so still in those videos? The hand holding it doesn't move. Is there a pole underneath attaching it to a surface we can't see?
by JungleNavigator on 1/30/14, 12:35 PM
On the first time, I wondered how the Paper creators manage to create a Facebook page without the Facebook branding, then realized it is Facebook's thing :-)
by CSDude on 1/30/14, 3:35 PM
Why name it Paper since it is just another UI for a subset of Facebook's features? You can comment, like, view posts, and only the new thing is categories. It is almost everything you do on Facebook, once you can upload something, it can be called a new UI for Facebook, replacing the old one. Why confuse with Paper? Now I have two apps for Facebook, one for reading one for writing, great.
by ecesena on 1/30/14, 4:48 PM
Reading the (few) details, it seems pretty poor at algorithmic level, in the sense of how it choose the stories
for you.
I wonder what the best strategy is, while in the past we had ugly interfaces with interesting algos (e.g., reddit), now it seems there's just UX/UI... my question is: is this a viable solution? Can you build UX first, and then complete it with better algos?
by 1angryhacker on 1/30/14, 12:57 PM
because what we need right now is another way to view our facebook feed
by rrggrr on 1/30/14, 2:39 PM
This reminds me of drop.io - a company Facebook purchased several years ago. I suspect Lessin, one of the founders and a writer played a role in this very polished storytelling metaphor for what amounts to content integration and sharing utility. If they carryover the phone, chat and other mediums from drop.io they may have something.
by hasanatkazmi on 1/30/14, 1:39 PM
Facebook is trying get in the market of successful concepts like Flipboard and Pulse. Why wouldn't Facebook like to mine what people (and their 'Friends') 'like' and show them relevant news when Flipboard and Pulse connect to your Facebook, churn what you shared in the past and show you news which you might like.
by zacharyz on 1/30/14, 4:38 PM
It looks beautiful - which is what I have come to expect from the designers over there at facebook. I love how Mike and Sharon's trips are used in their marketing materials, it is a nice personal touch.
The facebook timeline is starting to feel extremely stale - if facebook can make it so its users can tell better stories then I am all for it.
by whizzkid on 1/30/14, 1:33 PM
I am happy that their next thing is totally useless since my facebook usage is really really rare for last 6 months!
by smrtinsert on 1/30/14, 10:23 PM
I was wondering why they chose such an awful keyboard and then I realized I was looking at an ios device, crazy.
by SeanKilleen on 1/30/14, 4:21 PM
Quick suggestion: a reminder that this app is coming. Rather than tell me to share it, remember that February 3 is days away and I'm not really inspired to put it on my calendar. would have been great to see a request to get notified on launch via my choice of social network / e-mail.
by phwd on 1/30/14, 2:36 PM
by revetkn on 1/30/14, 2:06 PM
The product is probably not for me but it looks like FB employs some talented iOS engineers
by dudus on 1/30/14, 12:52 PM
I don't see a lot of difference from Google Play Newsstand or Flipboard.
by kyriakos on 1/30/14, 12:32 PM
I hope this runs well on android.. considering how bad their android app
by nathanbarry on 1/30/14, 2:39 PM
This looks like the work of Mike Matas and the rest of the team from Push Pop Press. Nice to see them be able to work on a full experience like this after being acquired by Facebook.
by ajays on 1/30/14, 3:04 PM
It's all about advertising.
Being able to deliver rich, full-screen stories to you implies being able to deliver rich, full-screen video ads to you. And that's where the money is.
by cheshire137 on 1/30/14, 3:00 PM
Why announce now if it's not available till February? I suppose if the news sites inundate me with more articles about this app, I'll remember to try it out.
by jesalg on 1/30/14, 5:31 PM
So if you share something on Paper would it also show up on Facebook? I can't tell if Paper is a new platform/app or just another way of browsing Facebook.
by miles_matthias on 1/30/14, 7:35 PM
I don't understand why this is some big, ground shaking app.
This is what the Facebook app itself should be. Instead of improving their terrible news feed, they make this.
by icoder on 1/30/14, 3:37 PM
Wonder how much the experience would degrade with a lesser internet connection. Even WiFi probably won't keep up with that, but perhaps enough. But 3G?
by aseem on 1/30/14, 2:51 PM
I think this is another prime example of building a vitamin instead of building a medicine. Do I really need this? How is this different from FlipBoard?
by mertd on 1/30/14, 12:49 PM
Kind of funny that the page is broken on iPad (Safari).
by dmarusic16 on 1/30/14, 2:05 PM
My favorite thing about the demo video is how its completely bereft of ads. That probably won't be the case in practice—at least not for long.
by terhechte on 1/30/14, 12:54 PM
by tdj on 1/31/14, 12:07 PM
Does anyone have a good explanation for why the pages uses 1-frame videos for static pictures? Does WebM offer better quality-per-KB than JPEG?
by Multiplayer on 1/30/14, 2:04 PM
Did anyone else laugh out loud when they panned to a naked woman in a bath tub? I was like, woah, starting to get a little weird here.
by Fuzzwah on 1/30/14, 9:31 PM
That video was painful for me to watch due to the jerky motions of the camera combined with weird video glitches in my Chrome window.
by emehrkay on 1/30/14, 2:56 PM
by garypezza on 1/30/14, 2:52 PM
I'm sorry, but haven't we moved past the phase of things like tilting the phone to view the full photo?
by cushychicken on 1/30/14, 4:39 PM
Does it still read my text messages? Yes? Then it won't be on my phone, just like the original shitty app.
by bovermyer on 1/30/14, 2:30 PM
What happens if I think the concept is interesting, if only because a sound plays when you tap the Like button?
by coreymgilmore on 1/30/14, 4:51 PM
Interesting....not sure of the overall usefulness. Let's see how this develops after a few months.
by mathattack on 1/30/14, 2:53 PM
I noticed that Facebook now has a trending feature. It seems like another move to fight Twitter.
by yanivt on 1/30/14, 2:19 PM
Does anyone know how they do the full bleed animation? (show the user flicking through scenes)?
by stef25 on 1/30/14, 2:44 PM
First thing I thought of was Storify, I guess it's a different kind of story telling.
by eyeareque on 1/30/14, 2:33 PM
On my phone I saw:
Please use portrait mode... Play video. Plays landscape format video.
by Bahamut on 1/30/14, 1:40 PM
This website really is not desktop friendly - it was annoying to browse through it.
by fjabre on 1/30/14, 3:55 PM
So this is what they're doing with all that cash? Color me unimpressed.
by cycojesus on 1/30/14, 1:15 PM
Is it just me or the perspective of that image looks very wrong?
by nlp on 1/30/14, 2:37 PM
Very buggy on my iPad.
by cs02rm0 on 1/30/14, 2:18 PM
Looks like Facebook without adverts. An improvement but...
by narfz on 1/30/14, 1:25 PM
by adaam2 on 1/30/14, 2:21 PM
Style over substance
by cykho on 2/3/14, 6:56 PM
It's now available for download from the link.
by crorella on 1/30/14, 6:47 PM
I failed to see the practicality of the app.
by nelmaven on 1/30/14, 1:54 PM
Do the adds also come in fullscreen?
by donniezazen on 1/30/14, 2:40 PM
So mobile is winning.
by fakeanon on 1/30/14, 7:13 PM
Prettier Facebook.
by mafuba on 1/30/14, 10:30 PM
Flipboard FTW!
by iAinsley on 1/30/14, 3:25 PM
inside.com does this!
by rubyfan on 1/30/14, 1:15 PM
Meh