Illustration of Facebook mobile interface (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Facebook has Introduced a Read-It-Later List for Media Pages, Places and Links
Just two years ago Facebook acquired Spool, the innovative Read-It-Later startup. Today, the social media giants have added a Read-It-Later button to their site, but will it put mounting pressure on rivals Pocket and Instapaper? The Read-It-Later feature is a program designed for the web, IOS and Android, it enables readers to save links to listen to them later.
So, what type of links can be saved? Facebook fans who choose to use the Read-It-Later button can store Facebook page links for events, TV shows and movies. Site members can also store their favorite music and latest news feeds to read them later.
"Save" may not cache content in the same way as Instapaper or Pocket, but it offers Facebook users a fast way to keep hold of content and links without interrupting their news feed flow. The "Save" Read-It-Later feature is being rolled-out during the next couple of days, so readers will be able to browse at leisure without skipping interesting links. Facebook trialed "Save" a couple of years ago and the newly designed program remains largely unchanged.
Some find it odd that Facebook have taken this length of time to introduce Read-It-Later, when the current version appears to be much the same as the 2012 feature. However, Facebook has over 1.28 million users, who will welcome and make use of the Read-It-Later feature. Facebook may not be caching content because of the impact on partner publishers ad views. Facebook is proud to announce the Read-It-Later feature, but they have no intention of upsetting publishers who contribute page content and purchase Facebook advertisements that enables their audience to grow.