Back in August of this year, a report surfaced that suggested Facebook was working on an app that focused on breaking news, and providing notifications to users for those stories.

Now, according to a report published by The Awl, that application is closer to launch, and it is reportedly called Notify. As earlier rumors had suggested, Notify would be a standalone application from Facebook, and it would allow users to essentially subscribe to notifications of their most sought-after news sources, what are called “stations” in the app. When one of those publications publishes a story, the user will get notified as such.

Notify seems like a natural extension of Instant Articles, which allowed publications to have users read their articles via packaged and fast-loading pages within the Facebook app. It’s also a direct answer to Twitter’s recently-launched Moments tab, which is a way for the social networking giant to curate tweets from different categories and accounts.

The obvious strength of Facebook for mobile users is something that publications and news outlets are likely to stop avoiding and start embracing, and Notify seems like a strong indicator of that. Mobile users are likely to have Facebook on their phone, and notifications enabled, so these types of notifications have a strong possibility of being acted upon.

If Notify is real, do you think it’s a good idea?