Facebook’s partner publishers are ready to start pumping out more content for the social networking site’s highly publicized “Instant Articles” feature, Wall Street Journal reports.
Facebook introduced Instant Articles last month, a feature currently only available on the iOS Facebook app that allows publishers to incorporate easily accessible, quickly loading content into users’ mobile news feeds. These stories load on Facebook rather than taking you to the publication’s site, meaning they load 10x more quickly than standard mobile content.
However, following a bunch of launch day articles from a number of prominent publishers, including the New York Times, NBC News, National Geographic, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed and more, the feature has seen virtually no content. In fact, according to The Verge, no publication has posted a second story in the format, and the last article posted was on June 9.
This lack of content raised questions about the success of the initial launch, but Facebook has insisted that the gradual pace was intentional. They say that the launch plan has three steps, the first being a limited release, then a larger trial and then finally a full version where publishers can release articles whenever. With today’s announcements from publishers, it seems that Facebook is entering phase two of the plan.
And judging from the enthusiasm of Facebook’s partner publications, the rollout is going well. The New York Times estimates that it will post as many as 30 articles a day to the platform and NBC News has made a similar commitment.
Buzzfeed has also said it will make as much of its output available as possible, and The Atlantic seems especially eager, announcing that most of its content will be available on Instant Articles. The publications say they’re just waiting for the go ahead from Facebook before they start pushing stories towards the platform.
This excitement is somewhat surprising considering the initial concern many companies expressed that Instant Articles was merely a ploy by Facebook to grab more content and command a greater share of the mobile display ad market, of which it already controlled 35% according to WSJ via eMarketer. The change of heart is likely due to the success of the initial articles and Facebook’s generous ad policy, which allows companies to keep 100% of ad revenue if they sell the ads and 70% if Facebook sells them.
Publishers like the NYT have indicated that they fully intend on taking advantage of the opportunity to sell their own ads with no commission to Facebook. “We believe we can command a rate similar to what we get for an ad on our own site,” editor for innovation and strategy Kinsey Wilson told WSJ.
It’s not yet clear when this second phase will go into effect, but a Facebook spokesman told WSJ that the program will begin soon.
