Facebook's 'Instant Articles' To Beam Stories For Readers From Media Partners

Facebook, The New York Times as well as many other electronic media partnership for 'Instant Articles' is launched, bringing exclusive content to the social media giant, Facebook.

"As more people get their news on mobile devices, we want to make the experience faster and richer on Facebook," explained Michael Reckow, the Product Manager.

Hence, news stories from partners will appear on Facebook's mobile application, instead of news publishers "posting an excerpt and a link to their website" according to fortune.

Last year, the late David Carr wrote that "media companies would essentially be serfs in a kingdom that Facebook owns", if the social media network could manipulate content from news companies.

As the 'Gray Lady', The New York Times, is thought to be America's paper of record, according to hngn, it seems to be giving the cues on whatever is trending in journalism and publishing, which is taken notice of by almost everyone. Hence, the deal between NYT and Facebook, announced last Wednesday, of NYT providing content exclusively to Facebook is important. "The Times will begin publishing select articles directly into Facebook's news feed," says NYT.

The joint partnership is planned to be routed through Facebook's Instant Articles, which its clients will "load instantly, as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web," according to the newly launched Instant Articles website. "(The) powerful new creative tools bring your stories to life," according to Instant Articles. "Instantly zoom into high-resolution photos and tilt to explore in detail. Watch autoplay video come alive as you scroll through the article. See where it all happened with interactive maps. Hear the author's voice with embedded audio captions."

Apart from the NYT, which is the lone print daily in the deal, other media outlets that would be part of the launch of Instant Articles include BuzzFeed, BBC News, The Guardian and The Atlantic. However, the deal is important for the Times, which will soon exceed the 1 million digital subscriber mark, according to New York Magazine.

"The New York Times' obsession with this product is their subscribers," a source told New York Magazine. "They shouldn't kill their subscriber business and the data around that."

However, how advantageous will the deal be to subscribers other than the social media network? Facebook-watchers like veteran journalist Dan Gillmor explain: "Facebook "instant articles" will be good for a few media orgs in the short run. But journalism will be far worse off as a whole."

As Fortune puts it: "...all the cards are in Facebook's hands. It has the platform, it has the reach, it has the users and it has something to offer to advertisers that most news companies can't hope to replicate."