Facebook Kills ‘Facebook Paper,’ Drives Another Nail In Online Publishers Coffin

Recently, Facebook made changes with their algorithm that essentially reduced a significant portion of traffic referrals that online publishers got from the site. This development alone could essentially destroy some smaller operations, but the social network’s decision to pull the plug on an app called “Facebook Paper” drove yet another nail into the coffin of many content producers. Worst of all, for online publishers, at least, the users were the ones who forced Facebook’s hand.

As PC Mag reports, the dismal number of users who downloaded the “Facebook Paper” app and used it to find news sources was the biggest factor behind the social network’s decision to axe the feature. The app was meant to be a way for publishers to reach users with daily content by making things like news, gossip, and other feature articles the priority on their newsfeeds.

Essentially, for those who used the app, they would see fewer baby pictures and seemingly deep quotes, and more notifications regarding developments in war zones, the stock market, or celebrity matters. Facebook fully expected the offering to be a hit, but it turned out to be a miss, and publishers will bear the brunt of the loss. Then again, since it was only available for the iPhone and was not available on the iPad or any Android device, the lack of interest is hardly surprising.

The removal of the app essentially cut off a major way for publishers to make up for the loss they will undoubtedly sustain thanks to the algorithm update, according to Tech Crunch. Too many users simply didn’t care enough about the features of the app, despite its modern design, and many of those that did find the concept interesting were confused by its complexity.

As such, from hovering around the top 300 on the app list, it fell down to below 1500 and never recovered. That it survived until 2016 with hardly anyone knowing about its existence is the most surprising part of the story.