Facebook’s standalone news app could launch sometime next week

Following the success of Instant Articles, which allow media websites to host their articles directly on Facebook instead of having to redirect readers to a third-party website, Facebook has decided to release a standalone news app. Known as Notify, we first started hearing about this app a few weeks ago, but now the Financial Times is reporting that Facebook will be officially launching the app next week.

Facebook will reportedly launch a standalone news app next week, according to the Financial Times. Dubbed Notify, the service is said to alert users to stories from professional media outlets, including early partners Vogue, Washington Post, and CBS. Facebook is also courting CNN, Comedy Central, and Billboard, the FT said, citing people familiar with Facebook’s plans. With Notify, the social network appears to be targeting rival Twitter, which recently launched content aggregation tool Moments, as well as Apple’s just-released News service. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment. The move comes shortly after Facebook rolled out Instant Articles on iOS, which loads articles from media partners directly on Facebook rather than redirecting them to outside sites, cutting down on load time. Initial collaborators include NBC News, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, The Guardian, BBC News, Slate, Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, and Vox Media.