Facebook already redirects hundreds of millions of people to news websites every day, so why not simplify the process and start hosting the news articles on Facebook directly? That’s exactly what Facebook has been trying to do for a while now, and it finally has enough online publishes on board with the plan that it’s released Instant Articles on its iOS app, with an Android app coming in the near future. Now you won’t have to be redirected to ad-riddled news websites when you see an interesting new articles on your News Feed, because the article is being hosted on Facebook directly.
We’re excited to announce that everyone who uses the Facebook for iPhone app can now read thousands of Instant Articles every day in News Feed. Starting today, people will see a lightning bolt on the top right corner of some stories shared in News Feed. The lightning bolt indicates it’s an Instant Article. When you tap the story, it loads ten times faster than a standard mobile web article. Instant Articles not only connect readers to stories faster; they also provide a richer reading experience than standard mobile web articles, with dynamic features that make the content more fluid, interactive and immersive. The Instant Articles experience is seamless for readers. When a friend or publisher shares a link on Facebook, the enhanced experience is displayed automatically if an Instant Article version is available. Instant Articles are simply the articles already in your Facebook News Feed, made faster and more beautiful. We’ve been beta testing Instant Articles with a small group of people on Facebook for iPhone for a few months, and we know readers love them. The enhanced experience inspires people to share Instant Articles with their friends more often than they do with standard web articles.
