It will come as no surprise to most that with over one billion registered accounts, almost twice as many as any other social network, Facebook has firmly cemented itself as the largest social network in the world. However, it’s no longer just a network to share your personal moments and catch up with old friends. For most it is now also a vital source of news, with most people checking their timeline daily to see the stories their friends are sharing, talking about and to discover what’s going on around the world in areas they are personally interested in.
Instant Articles has been officially unveiled by Facebook as a new way for users to access articles on the site’s official app, initially limited to the iPhone app, with others to follow. Facebook has claimed that articles will load ten times faster than before; currently users have been able to access articles via the apps built-in browser with a standard load time of eight seconds. With an improved user experience at the heart of Instant Articles ethos, Facebook has announced that the user will encounter, among other things, faster loading content, auto-play videos, geo-tagged photos and a photo tilt feature.
From a user’s point of view it’s a winning idea and it will certainly be a welcome move from a publisher’s perspective in terms of being able to push out great, interactive content faster to users. With only a handful of publishers confirmed for launch (including BBC News) however, it is yet to be seen whether other marketers and publishers will suffer from this new venture and with The Wall Street Journal reporting that most major publishers are getting “…60% of their referral traffic from Facebook…” it has surely left them wondering what is going to happen to their social referral traffic when Instant Articles goes live.
Facebook has announced that it will show no preferential treatment to its launch partners articles, and that’s its algorithm will still maintain its usual stance of promoting all articles, however if a user engages with an Instant Article post, their timeline will then become more frequently posted with other articles from that source. It has also been announced that publishers can still advertise within their own articles and keep 100% of the profits, or if no adverts are placed in the article Facebook will do it for them, keeping 30% of the profits itself, with the rest being given to the publisher.
Will other publishers be ‘forced’ to join Instant Articles or will Facebook stick true to their word and not favour their launch partners? Time will tell. It will certainly be an interesting space to watch.
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