The obsession with Facebook for the panorama of news continues, without stopping. But be careful, certainly the leaders of the most famous social network in the world weren't struck by a sudden vocation for information on their way to Menlo Park. Their concern is quite different: trying to convey information on the web through Facebook (or its derivatives) or, better yet, within Facebook. The latest news from Facebook is called Notify, available from Wednesday for now only in the US.
But let's see how Mark Zuckerberg's social network team has moved in terms of spreading the news in recent months. In May came the news of the Instant Articles and that is the presence of articles from major international newspapers directly within the Facebook newsfeed. In August there were rumors of the idea of a Twitter-like news app complete with notification system. Then Wednesday evening here comes the confirmation from the official Facebook blog of the launch of the new app dedicated to news. The app is a sort of news aggregator, born from the partnership with 70 major news, entertainment and photography brands: from Fox Sports to CNN via Vice, Vogue and Getty Images.
Once downloaded (for now Notify is only available for devices with iOS software), the app asks the user to set their interests. If you have chosen sport, you will receive notifications on the lock screen whenever there is news of interest to you from your favorite sources. We can then read them by clicking on the notification or share them directly on Facebook.
NOTIFY: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
For those who can't live without smartphones and without internet, Notify represents an undoubted positive novelty because it allows you to always be informed without going in search of news: the news will reach the user directly through the notification. It will then be the same user who decides whether to deepen it or not by clicking on the notification to be able to read it. However, those who prefer not to be bombarded every minute by notifications and news will certainly not have to download this app.
There is also an advantage, at least for the moment, for publishers who have an extra channel through which to convey news and get users to their site. Finally, in the short term, there are no big advantages for Menlo Park: the app has few connections with Facebook and at the moment there is no advertising on Notify. Furthermore, apparently, the notifications then refer to external sites (a notification from Vogue then refers to the Vogue site) and not to content published within the same app, in the 'Instant Articles' style.
