Facebook Strengthens Instant Articles Feature

Facebook is introducing an Instant Articles feature in its mobile application to more users. The feature loads stories 10 times faster than a standard website does. It also uses advertising software powered by Facebook itself, promising faster loading and better-looking layouts.

“The most important thing we pay attention to is providing daily value. Daily use is something we care about”, Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said in a statement. “Fundamentally, this is a tool that enables publishers to provide a better experience for their readers on Facebook. Instant Articles lets them deliver fast, interactive articles while maintaining control of their content and business models."

Instant Articles stories are published in the News Feed on a user’s Facebook application for smartphones. When users tap on them, the stories load almost immediately. The feature allows users to view content without leaving the domain. Also included in the updated are a series of features such as interactive maps, much-needed image zoom, autoplay videos, and audio captions similar to Youtube.

Facebook’s plans are to publish 1,000 articles/day through tie-ups with magazines, content-producing websites, and daily newspapers. Their partners include National Geographic, Time and USA Today. The feature will also allow publishers to track data using analytics tools.

The Instant Articles feature now works with all Apple iPhone models, Facebook said. The company is also running a public test of the feature on phones that use Google's Android operating system.

Currently, 1.31 billion people use Facebook once a month. More than 85% of people logging into Facebook do so from an internet-enabled device. Facebook says Instant Articles aims to solve the waiting time experienced by a user when an article loads after clicking on the link in the news feed. In order for Facebook to provide this service globally over poor wireless networks and not-so-powerful smartphones, Facebook “reworked its apps to draw less data and work quicker”.

Instant Articles can provide Facebook with more revenue from content-based advertising. Facebook is the second-largest company in terms of advertising dollars, accounting for 18% of advertisement dollars spent online last year, according to eMarketer. By 2017, the numbers are expected to climb to more than 20%. Google is the top player, accounting for almost 37% of advertising revenue generated in the past year.

Facebook says Instant Articles is part of an effort to modify its services in order to allow easier viewing when using a mobile device. If successful, this will be a revolution in the social media industry (which is usually full of links pointing to other websites or mobile applications).