On its launch day, Facebook's news reader app Paper averaged 4.5 stars over almost 3,000 ratings - amazing results since Facebook has previously been consistently criticised for new features.
One reason is that Paper provides an additional option but doesn't replace an older feature or app version. People scream (understandably) when they can't stick to their old ways. In this case, there's simply a new toy to play with. The core Facebook app still works like it did yesterday.
I learned a lot about user reactions when rolling out the new Subtitle Editor and Segment Timer apps at Viki. Even though the new apps were designed to be more intuitive and friendlier to beginners, we knew that tutorials were important. We considered integrating tutorials into the apps, or splitting out a trial version to be an interactive tutorial. In the end, because we didn't want to weigh down an already heavy app and wanted to launch + iterate faster, we used a video tutorial and contextual clues like tooltips, help modal windows and colours.
So I'm particularly impressed that Facebook had the time, resources and commitment to incorporate a truly interactive and contextual tutorial into the Paper app. It isn't just the usual walkthrough when you launch the app for the first time (e.g. Gmail mobile app's). Thinking that people will learn or bother learning from swiping through tutorial screens the first time they launch your app is like believing people read manuals before powering up their new gadgets.
People simply skip manuals. They only return to it when they mess up.
So Paper's time and context dependent "coach marks" coupled with GPS-like voice instructions are excellent. They even affirm you when you've completed the right action.
It is also a sign of humility - that the team behind it knows that even Facebook can't afford to lose users from frustration. They had to make swiping the cover image lead to a different section (probably makes more money for Facebook) while doing more to make sure users understand that non-intuitive interaction / experience. Observing my wife use my Paper app for the first time (the tutorial only showed me since it only shows once) indicates that the default expectation of swiping the cover image is that it moves you to the next story.
(I'm going to revisit this post to make it easier to read, with less jargon. Not quite satisfied with the language and level of clarity).
Meanwhile you might want to check out My Durian Badge (on Medium) or more posts related to startups.