Speed, recently has been the buzzword in online content. When I saw an instant article on Facebook in May, I was taken aback. Initially launched with just nine publications, it created a worldwide awe in digital marketing. Articles have been loading practically under eight seconds for mobile users of the Facebook app.
According to Facebook’s webpage on instant articles, there is no additional publishing tool or software that users need to learn in order to use Instant Articles. This service makes use of basic HTML5 which any existing CMS can easily support.
Instant Articles are not very rich digitally but keep the content intact and in turn all their ad revenue and analytics systems. Facebook pre loads these articles as users begin to scroll down and once they come across an Instant Article, chances are that they will click through.
“Media organizations and journalists are an integral part of Facebook, and we’re committed to delivering products that will create the best experience for publishers and their readers,” product manager Josh Roberts said in a blog post.
The initial reviews although as far as ad revenue goes are not very good but it is still proving to be appealing to many new publishers. While it may be a “let us see how this goes” situation for organisations, Facebook is definitely going to dominate the digital marketing space. What remains to be seen is how this plays out against Google’s competition of accelerated pages.
Undoubtedly, Facebook has a very strong user base when it comes to mobile platforms but whether or not small businesses will benefit out of Instant Articles is still a question.
According to Facebook, “When publishers get started with Instant Articles, they provide an RSS feed of their articles to Facebook, a format that most Content Management Systems already support. Once this RSS feed is set up, Instant Articles automatically loads new stories as soon as they are published to the publisher’s website and apps.”
So far, the entire process seems easy and possible but the exact reviews will follow only from April 12 when the service finally rolls out globally.