ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Can Facebook crack the code on a successful mobile news project?

With Google Reader set to bow out next week, Facebook is the latest company to try its hand at driving mobile engagement by offering users valued news content on the go.

Several mobile news services have come and gone as publishers failed at finding the right formula for driving user engagement while also attracting advertisers. For Facebook, a mobile news service could provide an important piece of the puzzle in how it continues to build its mobile advertising business.

"For every mobile news service that shuts down, two more start up,? said Aaron Everson, chief operating officer and president of Shoutlet, Madison, WI.

?Users voiced their disappointment when Google Reader shut down, but now Flipboard, AOL and potentially Facebook are trying to create mobile newsreaders to take its place,? he said. ?And they wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think there were consumers who felt they needed it, or ways to sell it to brands.

Facebook brings a huge network of consumers who already are browsing for content and this is a way to get them to dive deeper, for longer engagement."

Big advertising opportunity
News content can help Facebook and others address one of the challenges in mobile, which is that user sessions can be brief as users look to quickly consume content while they have a couple of minutes of downtime. As a result, many are not on a mobile site or in an app long enough to engage with any of the ads.

Users who are consuming news content can have longer user sessions as they read articles, watch videos and browse, which would be attractive to brands.

"The opportunity is big in the advertising space,? Mr. Everson said. ?Facebook is already a daily destination for consumers around the world.

?Adding a mobile news reader would increase their time on the service,? he said. ?The challenge is that they will need to express patience with getting brands involved so users can truly value the news that comes through.

?Over time, they can demonstrate products that will integrate brands, much like they did with timeline."

Strong user experiences
One of the more successful entries in mobile news is Flipboard, which has approximately 50 million monthly unique visitors and lets users browse relevant content by swiping pages similar to how they would read a print magazine.

The user experience for Facebook?s news aggregator service will reportedly resemble Flipboard?s.

In addition to attracting advertisers, one of the other challenges that companies have faced in this space is designing a user interface for the small screens on smartphones that is easy to use and encourages users to discover new content.

?The news reader concept isn't new; RSS has been around for more than a decade but has been largely ignored by the average Internet user,? said Hal Thomas, senior content manager at creative agency BFG Communications, Bluffton, SC.

?As evidenced by the recent demise of Google Reader, the biggest challenge for Facebook lies in making their reader product easy to understand and easy to use by the non-tech-savvy masses,? he said. ?As a result, a Facebook reader isn't likely to hurt established mobile news services like Flipboard, many of whom already have very loyal users.

Primary browsing experiences
Facebook?s new reader has supposedly been in development for more than a year with the goal of driving mobile use.

This is the latest move by Facebook to enhance the content experience for mobile users. It also recently added linkable hashtags, which have become popular as a way to steer users in the direction of related news and conversations.

Additionally, it redesigned its news feed earlier this year to provide a more consistent experience across platforms and introduced Facebook Home for Android users, which surfaces updates on the home screen.

?Smartphone sales have outpaced PC sales since 2011 and some predictions have sales of tablet devices overtaking PC sales as early as 2015,? Mr. Thomas said. ?This means that within two years, the average person's primary browsing experience will be on a small screen device.

?This presents a real challenge for Facebook, which has become the social media equivalent of a big box grocer offering features first seen in other smaller, more specialized social media networks - e.g. hashtags, check-in services, instant message chat, etc.,? he said.

?A Facebook reader service would follow this trend and would be another way for Facebook to keep users' attentions focused within its ecosystem.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York