Recently, Facebook unveiled the latest feature in making your user experience faster, easier, and more worthwhile. They call this feature, Instant Articles.
Instant Articles are the newest innovation from Facebook that allow you to view videos, articles, and publications without leaving your Timeline. According to Facebook’s Developers, “An Instant Article is an HTML5 document optimized for fast mobile performance, rich storytelling capabilities, branded design and customized visual display…Instant Articles are a separate tool meant to enhance your article once someone shares it on Facebook. It simply means that any time a reader on a mobile device is directed to the article’s URL on Facebook, the link will be displayed as an Instant Article”.
This type of browsing is a win-win situation for media producers and consumers, right? Let’s take a look!
Instant Articles provide:
- A Better Experience for the Article Junkie. When you read an article, you want it to pop up fast, tell you what you want it to tell you, and move on. Instant articles show you the content you want to see as much as 10 times faster than normal articles, while giving you the interactive element that will keep even the most boring of articles entertaining.
- New, Shiny, Creative. Instant Articles allow publishers to bring their stories to life. This can be done through auto-play videos, high resolution photos, and interactive maps.
- Looking at You, Mr. Professional. Instant Articles enable publishers to decide what to share on Facebook, with ways to customize the look and feel of the publication to fit the brand.
I think we can all agree that no one likes waiting for the latest Buzzfeed article to load while Facebook drags you to your Safari browser. Naturally, we become uninterested and close the tab. This doesn’t do us, or the publisher, any favors. To explain this all more literally, having Instant Articles allow for a faster, more effective way for Facebook users to read and gather information, but they also allow for the publisher to maintain the audience’s attention and promote their brand in a new, interactive, and creative way. Not to mention, they look really pretty. Feel free to check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI83gb8XnlE.
Speaking of the Publisher, let’s take a look at what Facebook Developers had to say about the Instant Article difference:
- Instant Articles are 10X Faster than Regular Web Articles
- 20% More Instant Articles are Read on Average
- Readers are 70% Less Likely to Abandon an Instant Article
Facebook has seemed to have made publishers an unrefusable offer.
Ad Revenue? Check. Facebook is giving publishers all of the ad revenue if the publisher sells the ads, and is taking only a third of the cut if the ads are sold through the Facebook.
Content individuality? Of course. Publishers can do whatever they want to mold and change the content to make it their own.
Technical problems? Nope. With only taking about 8 seconds to load and enjoy, there isn’t much time for technical issues.
Facebook continues to grow and surprise us everyday. Using Instant Articles, we are able to expand, develop, and connect in ways never previously thought possible. Having this new tool provides us with new ways to gather information without even leaving the comfort of our Facebook app. You’re probably thinking, what can Facebook think of next? Only time will tell.
But for now, Stream on Facebook users, stream on.
