Facebook

News Reader Service

According to a Re/Code update, Facebook is going to launch a news reading service, ‘Paper’, by the end of this month.

‘Paper’ will reportedly be a Flipboard look-alike in the way it works where it will choose social updates along with news stories from publications that are of interest to a user. As per Re/Code’s update, ‘Paper’ will include Facebook posts.

During the launch of the new look for the News Feed in March 2013, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had expressed a desire to bring out a ‘personalized newspaper’ and ‘Paper’ seems to be another result of that desire.

Facebook has declined to comment on this. So, we do not know if ‘Paper’ is going to be a standalone app or if it will be in any other format.

Keep an eye on this space! We will bring you an update on this once Facebook confirms the news.

Acquisition of ‘Branch’

New York based start-up ‘Branch’, is the latest addition to Facebook’s arsenal. ‘Branch’, which is into social discussion tools, will form Facebook’s Conversations group and aims to help users connect with other like-minded people. Facebook also gained ‘Potluck’, built by ‘Branch’ in this deal. ‘Potluck’ focuses on content sharing and discussion rather than signs of engagement such as likes.

The acquisition news was announced through a Facebook post by Branch co-founder Josh Miller. Branch’s capabilities will help in building rich, consistent conversations.

This looks to be another effort by Facebook to improve the content offered to users.

Twitter

Tailored Audiences Expanded

Twitter is partnering with Epsilon to offer marketers new ways of targeting ads through its Tailored Audiences feature.

Using the SecureConnect technology, marketers can delve into their own audience and zero in on focused segments based on data provided by Epsilon.

New Web Interface

Twitter announced the launch of its new web interface through a tweet recently.

Twitter’s website was behind its iOS and Android sites. With this launch, Twitter is trying to reduce that distance.