Facebook Is Working On A Breaking News App [REPORT]

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Facebook is working on an individual mobile news application similar to the one from Twitter, says a report from Business Insider. Like Twitter, the product will enable a publisher to send breaking news alerts direct to a user’s mobile.

Facebook Is Working On A Breaking News App [REPORT]

A similar product to Twitter

According to Business Insider, only a few publications have been selected by the Facebook for the app currently. The Social networker’s app, which is under development, will allow publishers to post news alerts with a maximum 100 text characters followed by a URL.

Business Insider got ahold of some of the screenshots of the new product, and has also spoken to a person familiar with the company’s business platform.

Facebook’s Twitter-like app is still in the “alpha” testing phase, and details on it are still vague. The app allows users to select their favorite publications to get notifications from along with the selected topics or “stations” relating to the breaking news alerts they want to receive.

Facebook, which is emerging as one of the fastest growing news sources, is making big efforts to capitalize the news market. This latest move, if true, will surely strengthen its position in the segment against arch rival Twitter, who will soon launch its new event and news-focused “Project Lightning,” as last week it started testing a breaking news tab in its iOS and Android apps.

“Facebook keeps growing as a news source, so it makes sense it would somehow try to capitalize on that, even if this app sounds like it’s not much more than a medium for publications to funnel their content through,” says a report from TheVerge.

As of now there is no comment from Facebook on the subject.

Facebook also growing its video ads

In separate news, Facebook is now launching its auto-play video ads format to third-party applications in its mobile ad network. Recently, the social networker introduced the format across its platform, which has worked well for the firm. Launching the format on the third-party applications will allow the firm to sell more video ads to marketers without troubling users with additional video ads on the site.

These efforts to monetize the platform are helping Facebook’s stock, which is up over 18% year to date. On Tuesday, shares closed down 0.56% at $93.62.

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