Facebook Rolls Out Instant Articles on Android

In October, Facebook announced that the Instant Articles feed will be available for iOS users, and will soon be tested on Android. Thousands of articles being published everyday in that format will allow them to be loaded up to 10 times faster than they usually would on a regular browser, making it more likely for users to share said articles.

Android Headlines noted that articles that are shared more often rank higher in Facebook's News Feed, which led to more publishers using the same format.

Facebook has finally announced that the Instant Articles just finished its Beta test, and the feature is now live for all Android Users.

These articles are recognizable by the lightning bolt icon on the top right corner of the article preview. In the rollout, it seems that there is really no delay from the moment a user taps on the article to the moment that it can be read, which makes for an easier linking experience. The Instant Article format supports not only text articles, but audio captions and photo galleries as well, creating a better reading experience.

Facebook said that over 350 publishers are already using the same format around the world, and according to 9 to 5 Google, these include big names such as The New York Times and Buzzfeed.

The format has been successful so far, and mobile traffic has been growing rapidly on the social network. Publishers who chose to monetize their articles in the instant format can choose between selling ads within their articles or having Facebook sell some ads and give the money to the publishers. So far, the format has been quite successful, and mobile traffic has been growing.

However, Facebook's restrictions when it comes to ads has resulted in tech and media industries to band together to form the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, which is an open source alternative to Instant Articles, and has already received backing from Google, Twitter and more. Based on tests, it seems that AMP loads even faster, but uses far less data than Instant Articles.

The AMP should help publishers, as Endgadget noted that publishers haven't been making a lot of money despite their increased traffic, thanks to the reduced ad revenue from Facebook. The social network is still tweaking its formula to ensure monetary gains for said publishing companies, but so far, a sheer increase in readers may be needed to make up for the difference that these publishers make in the short run.