It’s already been more than a month since Facebook released Instant Articles, a new feature creating a new partnership with publishers. However, once the hype died down – and it was like hell unleashed on earth – the service seemed to be doing nothing else but gathering dust.
Signing publishers only shared one article each, leaving the users wondering if that was it. Facebook has announced, however, that things are about to change, and users should expect to see new content via Instant Articles on their news feeds.
And not just any amount of content; three of the publishers that agreed to post their news articles directly on the social platform – The New York Times, NBC news and the Wall street Journal – are reportedly ready to flood your news feed.
If you think 30 articles every day is a lot, The Atlantic and BuzzFeed, both partners with Facebook, have also announced to “pour in as much news as possible.”
Bob Cohn, head of the Atlantic and its chief operating officer, explained the next phase is an experimental one in which the content they post via Instant Articles will be closely monitored. The publishing organization also stated it is ready to alter the flood of content according to the feedback offered by the Facebook community.
As the giant tech company decided when it released Instant Articles, the publishers will receive the entirety of the revenue generated by the content they post via the feature. For those unfamiliar with how the deal went down, Facebook signed an agreement with several news majors as a strategy to incorporate news directly into its timeline.
The instant articles will be made up from two elements: a written content and a short video clip that would be the source of revenue. The disadvantage of losing viewers on their own websites will be greatly balanced by the fact that Facebook’s feature allows the publishing organizations to reach a far greater audience.
The concept behind Instant Articles – and the reason for its name – was prompted by the somewhat tiresome loading time of news articles on mobile devices. According to reports, the time it takes for a Facebook link to transfer from the social platform to the publisher’s website was an average of 8 seconds, which is considered long in this technology era.
That’s how Instant Articles was born, out of the need to offer content immediately, which was done by getting publishers to agree on posting directly on the platform. In spite of the slow start and the doubts the partner publications have expressed at the beginning, Facebook is positive that feedback will give more courage to news organizations to post even more.
Image Source: The Verge
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