Instant Articles: Learn About This Feature

What are Instant Articles

Facebook's Instant Articles are an optimized version of articles that appear in the user's timeline, but are only available when they are using the Facebook mobile app. In other words, this feature is not available on desktop.

Like AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), the main goal of this feature is to provide users with a faster, more enjoyable experience. Unlike AMP, however, Instant Articles are limited to reading content within the social network.

Why was it created?

Given that mobile devices still have limited internet access, information can take a long time to load. In a study conducted by KissMetrics, 40% of users abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.

With this technology, content loads instantly for users, creating an incredible user experience that even makes the content feel like an integral part of the app.

How it works

In short, Instant Articles work as follows: when you click a website link within the Facebook app, it retrieves a streamlined version of the content in advance and displays it in the app's built-in browser using specific formatting standards.

What do we gain and lose by using this feature?

As with any new feature, there are pros and cons to implementing it. The decision to use it depends on the type of website you have and how you generate revenue and conversions.

What we lose

• Page views - When you use Instant Articles, the Facebook app no longer directs traffic to your website. As mentioned above, the content is preloaded on the social network, which leads to a drop in page views.
• Related content - Since the content is provided in a streamlined version with standard formatting, users who enjoy the information we share have no way to continue browsing our website.
• Sharing on other social networks - The only way to share the content is through Facebook itself. In other words, we lose integrations with other networks, such as Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and others.

What we gain

• Usability and engagement: There's no denying that the user experience when reading content will improve significantly. Faster loading and the information architecture make it possible for users to focus on reading and build stronger engagement with the brand.

Useful links

Learn more about Instant Articles on Facebook's website.