Facebook Launches More Mobile App

Facebook is launching a news mobile app called Notify with subscription content from media partners like the Washington Post and Vogue.

The Notify app lets users subscribe to content from media partners on their smartphones. Facebook will be able to add news alerts in its daily notifications to a global audience.

Facebook’s “renewed push into mobile news reflects a big, global shift in media consumption patterns,” said the Financial Times.

Facebook’s profit and revenue growth reflected this shift in media. The world’s largest social media platform said its third-quarter revenue grew to $4.5 billion on the strength of its mobile advertising.

Facebook, with 500 million users, has doubled its daily page views to 8 billion since April. The company also owns Instagram, a mobile photo and video-sharing app with 400 million users. Analysts were optimistic about Instagram’s future growth.

Research firm eMarketer predicted global mobile advertising revenues for Instagram will reach $2.8 billion by 2017, up from $595 million this year. This represents over 10 percent of Facebook’s global advertising revenues.

This strong showing has positioned Facebook to compete with major social media companies as an advertising force, said analysts. “Facebook will drive growth and capture nearly 65% of social network ad revenues in 2015,” reported eMarketer.

Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer. “In the medium to long run, we believe that we’re not competing between Facebook and Instagram. We’re competing with other forms of media,” Sandberg told analysts on a conference call.

She said Facebook wants to grow in emerging markets and bring more people online who are not using the Internet.

The advertising environment on social media is very competitive. Social media platforms are fighting for customers on laptops, tablets, phones and even watches.

Twitter is one of Facebook’s competitors. Twitter’s advertising revenues have slowed as the company struggles to add new users, reported the Wall Street Journal. Another competitor, Google, is selling more advertisements for less money on its own sites, said Ad Age.

I’m Mary Gotschall.

Mary Gotschall compiled this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.