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Facebook testing a 'read it later' feature: Report

Facebook testing a 'read it later' feature: Report

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 28 November 2013 16:56 IST

It looks like popular social networking site, Facebook, wants to encourage people to share and read news articles and stories via the service.

Facebook is testing a feature that will allow users to save links for later reading inside Facebook, according to a report by AllThingsD, which also published a screenshot (via MyTechSchool) of the social app with the said feature.

The app's feature set appears to be similar to that of other 'read it later' apps like Pocket, Readability and Instapaper. It's worth pointing out that Twitter is the medium of choice when it comes to sharing links, and a number of third-party Twitter clients even offer integration with these apps.

Responding to the publication's query, a Facebook spokesperson said, "We're constantly testing new features, but we have nothing further to share at this time."

A bookmark icon would enable users to save the complete article and not just the Facebook post, and the activity is also added in the user's Profile Activity, as noted by the report.

A new 'Saved' option also appears in the Facebook sidebar menu listing the saved links with 'Link Saved Time,' a thumbnail, link title, website name, meta description and the privacy type, and it can also be shared and removed with a swipe to the left gesture.

The MyTechSchool report points out that Facebook had tested the same feature for its iOS app, an year ago, allowing users to save articles with a long press.

According to a recent survey, one in three Americans gets their news through Facebook. It's no wonder that the social network wants more people to read and share news on the site.

It's worth pointing out that Facebook has been enticing media outlets to post more news stories to the social network. It recently added a "Stories to Share" feature to Facebook pages of news organisations.

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