Social network Facebook has revealed in a recent message posted to all users of its standalone news reading app 'Paper' that the app is being discontinued by the company in about a month.

According to the message, the Paper app has been officially pulled by Facebook from the Apple App Store. The support for the existing downloads of the Paper app will be discontinued by Facebook with effect from July 29, 2016.

The Paper app was launched by Facebook in 2014 -- only for iOS users -- as an attractive looking standalone news reader. The launch of the app underscored an ambitious move by Facebook in potentially hooking more people into published content.

The Paper app - with some novel User Interface elements - gave users the ability to prioritize news articles and feature stories, not just status updates from friends. However, the app did not generate sufficient traction for Facebook, and the company did not expand its investment in the app beyond its initial launch on the iPhone.

In announcing the discontinuation of the Paper app, Facebook said in its message to the app's users: "Our goal with Paper was to explore new immersive, interactive design elements for reading and interacting with content on Facebook, and we learned how important these elements are in giving people an engaging experience."