Facebook is reportedly working on a standalone mobile news app that looks like it will be part of the Facebook for Business initiative.
The product, which looks like it would have the same functionalities as Twitter, is different from the Facebook for Work initiative that the company announced in late 2014.
Business Insider was able to acquire screenshots of Facebook's new product, with the news outfit also being able to interview a source that has been working on the Facebook for Business platform.
According to the source, Facebook has already chosen a short list of companies to serve as pilot companies for the unreleased app.
Facebook has declined to issue a comment to Business Insider regarding the product, which is now in its early testing stages.
While the details of the project are still largely unclear, Business Insider has put together a list of features that can be found in the new Facebook product.
The new service will be a standalone mobile app developed by Facebook that users will have to download. Upon the completion of the download and the installation of the app, users will choose partner publications that would like to follow through the app as well as the topics, called stations or substations, for which they will like to receive alerts on breaking news. The short list of companies that Business Insider's source indicated is the list of initial companies that will be tested as partner publications.
Whenever breaking news occurs, the partner publications will create notifications that will be sent out on mobile to all the publication's followers on the app, with users instantly receiving the breaking news similar to how they do so for Twitter.
The mobile news alerts will only have a maximum length of 100 characters for text, along with the URL link to the corresponding article on the website of the publication. Each publication will only be able to create a notification for articles on their own website. Once the mobiles news alerts are sent out, users will be able to keep up with breaking news and read the articles that fully discuss the important event.
Facebook is steadily growing as a news resource, and this new app will allow the company to capitalize on this trend.
Photo: Anthony Ryan | Flickr
