The Popularity Of Facebook's 'Paper' App Has Cratered In Less Than Two Months

Facebook launched a brand-new, dedicated "news" app called "Paper" on Feb. 3, but just two months later, popularity of the app has tanked.

On launch day, it was the No. 1 social networking app, and the No. 1 app in the US. Now, it's fallen to No. 76 in social and No. 965 in the US as of April 1, according to App Annie. The chart of its ranking shows a swift drop that began in March.

It's rather surprising considering how awesome and beautiful the Paper app turned out. BI editor Jim Edwards wrote that Paper was "much more cleverly designed than Flipboard" - its closest competitor.

Here's what Paper's popularity looks like (via App Annie):

For comparison, you can see that Flipboard still remains strong with popularity staying relatively steady. That app now stands at No. 833 in the US, and No. 12 in its category of news, which may give it an advantage over Paper.

Flipboard's chart:

Interestingly, Paper hasn't cannibalized the original Facebook app's popularity at all, with it remaining in the top 10 for social and top 20 for US apps overall. Here's the chart for Facebook: