Facebook Instant starts to taste success

It looks like Facebook is beginning to win over publishers with its Facebook Instant platform. For those who have been living in a cave, Instant allows the likes of the New York Times to leave their content with Facebook.

Putting aside the fact that your most precious commodity is in the care of someone else, Instant lets people benefit from Facebook’s faster loading times, analytics and an increased likelihood that the articles will be shared. For a better look at the advantages…

You are even allowed to put ads on Instant. However, this is something that has already caused problems for publishers, with many complaining about Facebook restrictions.

Now it appears that Facebook has made the required changes. According to the Wall Street Journal, publishers say their Instant Articles generate the same amount of ad revenue on a per-view basis as on their own mobile platforms.

Facebook in December relaxed rules dictating the volume and type of advertising that could appear in Instant Articles. This happened after publishers said that it was proving difficult to generate revenue from the programme.

The change was a simple one: allow more ads per article.

This is important to content marketing because the increase in content is putting distribution centre stage. Brands are yet to get involved with Facebook Instant, but that is likely to change. There are rumours that many of the top content marketing producers, including GE, are interested.

Also, do not forget Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages system. This performs roughly the same function from the user’s point of view in terms of faster load speeds and so on.

What might be the difference between the two is the analytics and the greater likelihood to share. It is impossible to predict how either of these products will fare. But if they succeed it could change the way content is pushed out to consumers.

Facebook Instant starts to taste success is part of Content24, the online magazine for London content marketing agency FirstWord.