Facebook Targets Flipboard with New iPhone Paper App

Facebook is giving iPhone users a new way to view their newsfeed come February 3 with a new app called Paper -- not to be confused with the iPad drawing app with the same name. The new interface aims to offer a more compelling way to view Facebook content, and has a feel that's very much like the news and social network reader Flipboard.

Facebook wants to keep user's eyes with Paper for iPhoneFacebook wants to keep user's eyes with Paper for iPhone

Like Flipboard, Paper is a full screen app that lets users swipe to move from story to story as if they're flipping through magazine pages, supports zooming in to photos, lets users subscribe to content from what the company is calling trusted publishers, and supports previewing content before posting. Also like Flipboard, Paper organizes content into themed sections.

Aside from the radically new interface, Facebook's big change with Paper is the inclusion of third-party content in user's news feeds. Considering how resistant Facebook users have been to the idea of content that doesn't come from the people the follow, this could be a hard sell for the social networking service.

What sets Paper apart from Flipboard is the ability to directly create content for your Facebook stream, and Facebook's plans to have its own editors curating stories for the various content categories available to users.

Facebook's Paper will be available through Apple's iTunes Store on February 3.