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Facebook is constantly evolving as it tries to remain the biggest social media platform on the Internet. In early 2015, Facebook rolled out a new service to help boost it’s dominance and enable it to become the place for content and news on the web.
Instant Articles gives publishers the ability to create interactive articles directly on Facebook, offering a rich media experience with fast load times. Facebook wants users to be able to consume content seamlessly and still allow publishers to monetize the experience through advertising.
With Instant Articles, publishers have full control over the look of their stories, their data and their advertising. Facebook allows publishers to have the option of keep their own direct-sold ads or monetize content through Facebook Audience Network. They also have access to a suite of multimedia tools to create interactive stories that will load quickly. Instant Articles load articles in Facebook’s newsfeed up to ten times faster than standard web articles and create a rich, interactive experience with tools like auto-play video and tap to zoom image galleries.
Instant Articles have been limited to a handful of publishers but Facebook is opening it up to all publishers, regardless of size beginning April 12. Facebook wants this to be a win for publishers who want more traffic, a win for readers who want faster load times and, of course, this will help Facebook be a publish platform and allow for more opportunities for revenue.
Smaller publishers and bloggers also just scored another win for gaining a bigger audience on Facebook, thanks to WordPress. WordPress just unveiled a free plug in that will take a blog or media sites’ content and transforms it so that it is compliant with Facebook Instant Article required formatting. The plug in makes it even easier for publishers to take part in Facebook Instant Articles.
It is still undetermined what the impact of Instant Articles will be on publishers and readers but WordPress’s new plugin is a sign that many are excited for the service to fully launch.
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