Facebook Paper: Reading between the lines...

We all know Facebook recently turned 10 years old, because of those stupid annoying Facebook movies.

However, besides those stupid annoying Facebook movies, Facebook is committed to improving user experience and refreshing their product. Hooray.

Facebook is one of the most used applications on a smart phone. Back in the day, when smartphones first started coming out at affordable prices, they were advertised solely for using Facebook. Facebook phones, if you will.

So it’s great that Facebook have decided to release Paper, an alternative to your standard Facebook app. Facebook Paper allows you to do most of the things the standard Facebook app allows you to, only better.

Many people will argue that Facebook has focused more on usability rather than how their website or applications look. This is pretty true; besides some minor updates, Facebook has generally stayed the same blue and white uggo site it always was.

Paper has the look of a glossy magazine. It focuses on images, photos, videos – all things visual. Its goal is to make it more appealing to those who have become a bit uninspired (bored, actually) with Facebook these days.

You can still see the normal posts from friends and you can still post your own status updates, but say goodbye to the ugly tool bar and ads (so far) that currently make you hate it.

Less white background, more visuals. Photos. Videos. Graphics. Yes please.

No more will you have to swipe through feed after feed on your newsfeed. Imagine them all coming in sideways, and seeing graphic-rich content instead that you can swipe away.

As well as user content, Paper promotes news items from major publishers. The news stories are laid out like a magazine, rather than a drip feed, making it much easier to find stories that interest you.

Currently only available in iPhone and not in the NZ app store yet, Paper is definitely a wait and see.