Facebook launches news app ‘Notify’ in U.S.

Image: A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic /Files

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it launched its news app Notify for iPhone users in the United States, featuring content from media partners such as Fox News, Washington Post and CBS.

The app allows user to share notifications directly from the lock screen and includes a broad selection of “stations” across different categories such as Sport, fashion and breaking news.(http://bit.ly/1OEwCLf)

The company’s app competes with Twitter Inc’s recently launched service called Moments, which aims to provide a better way of curating and aggregating news content for users and help them follow live events.

Facebook had earlier tied up with nine news publishers to launch “Instant Articles”, which publishes their content directly to the social network’s mobile news feeds.

The company’s shares rose 1.4 percent to $109.46 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Copyright 2015 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.