Drowning in Newsfeed? Facebook now lets you save posts to read later

Ever flick through Facebook and spot an interesting post, only to be distracted and lose it in the ever-changing Newsfeed stream? Perhaps your friend shared something you want to follow up on when you have some spare time to sit down for a long read. If only there was some way to keep track of all those links…

Well, there is. It’s called Pocket. Or Instapaper. Evernote. Or even Delicious. But the latest news in read-it-later services is from social giant Facebook, which has launched its own tool, simply called ‘Save’, after months of rumours.

In a blog post, the company said that it would begin rolling out the option to save posts for later to users of its desktop site and mobile apps (Android and iOS at this stage) over the next few days. The feature, which will be easily accessible on posts by tapping the ‘more’ drop down in the top right hand corner, will give you the option to save links, places, movies, TV series and music you’d like to delve into at a later stage.

Once you save the post, it will sync across your devices, allowing you to hoard the links you spotted on mobile until you’re settled at your desk, or vice versa. The items will also only be visible to you, unless you choose to share them with your friends directly, and will be neatly organised by category in a new ‘saved’ option located in the same place you usually go to check events or apps.

The new feature aims to make sure you spend more time on Facebook and use the platform as a way to find interesting content — so the team has added a few tweaks to make sure you actually come back and read the things you’ve saved. For example, it will periodically include your unread posts in your Newsfeed as a gentle nudge to get you clicking.