Friday, January 31, 2014

Facebook unveils new app lifted by mobile gains

NY - Facebook shares staged a solid rally Thursday, buoyed by news of stronger-than-expected profits and sizzling gains in mobile advertising revenue.

Increases in size came as Facebook introduced a fresh mobile app targeted at learning to be a social newspaper of sorts for the members of the world’s biggest social networking.

The stock was up 16 % at $62. 22 in midday trade each day after Facebook reported that profit in the fourth quarter jumped eightfold from the year earlier in the day to $523 million, raising its net gain for the entire year to $1. 5 billion.


“Facebook’s ascendancy and execution in 2013 has been near-flawless, ” said Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Sandler in an email to clients.

Mark Mahaney at RBC Capital Markets said he was “more positive” on Facebook following the strong sydney.

“The most essential Internet trend undoubtedly is MOBILE, and Facebook has turned into a MOBILE company, ” he wrote in a study note.

In yet another sign of its concentrate on mobile, Facebook on Thursday unmasked its new app called “Paper, ” an on line newspaper of sorts for viewing and sharing articles along with other content from the smartphone.

“Paper makes storytelling more beautiful having an immersive design and fullscreen, distraction-free layouts, ” Facebook said in a weblog post announcing the brand new service.

“We’ve also managed to get better to craft and share beautiful stories of your. ”

The app, the initial product from Facebook Creative Labs, will undoubtedly be available February 3 for iPhone users, Facebook said.

Paper gifts stories and themed sections to permit visitors to follow topics which range from news headlines to food to sports to science.

It includes a tiled design which allows users to customize the display along with an individual Facebook feed.

“Each section carries a rich mixture of content from emerging voices and well-known publications, ” the weblog post said.

The partners in Paper were maybe not named, but a video released by Facebook showed an user scrolling articles and content from The brand new York Times, Time magazine, USA Today, the Huffington Post and others.

“Storytelling and sharing have already been reimagined in Paper showing stories at their most readily useful, ” Facebook said.

“Everything responds to your touch in order to grab or thumb through stories with simple, natural movements. It is possible to tilt your phone to explore high-resolution panoramic photos from corner to corner, and see faces along with other essential details close up. ”

The app permits full-screen viewing of videos and can “make it an easy task to spot articles from trusted publishers and decide what things to read or watch, ” it said.

Reports in recent weeks said Facebook was hiring editors or “curators” to check its algorithmic approach to delivering content to its users

Facebook’s latest earnings report showed revenues before quarter rose to $2. 58 billion, and $7. 87 billion for the entire year.

Facebook said the amount of monthly active users rose 16 % from the year ago to at least one. 23 billion, with 945 million using cellular devices.

Revenue from advertising surged to $2. 34 billion in the quarter, up 76 % within the last year.

Mobile advertising revenue represented some 53 % of this figure, a rise from 23 % in the fourth quarter of 2012.