Facebook Paper: The Inside Story Is Not What You'd Expect

Paper doesn't quite fit the typical Facebook mold.

For starters, the standalone app took the company nearly 30 months to build — a lifetime by Facebook's "move fast and break things" standard. When Paper was finally unveiled, many users were pleasantly surprised by the app's design, which is image-heavy and — with the exception of a few buttons in the upper righthand corner — looks next to nothing like the Facebook app with which we've grown familiar.

While not unexpected, the app was still uncommon. Facebook has built five other standalone apps over its 10-year-existence, including the traditional Facebook app. That group includes one app you've probably never heard of (Facebook Pages Manager is just for Page admins), and another Facebook hopes you never will (Poke, a Snapchat look-a-like intended for the general public, hasn't been updated since its release in December 2012). Read more...