Facebook's Instant Articles Feature Now Rolling Out to All iOS Users

Several months ago, Facebook announced "Instant Articles," a new platform for publishers that aimed to speed up the loading times of articles when browsing on the Facebook iOS app, but it was limited to a small number of iPhone users. As of today, Facebook's Instant Articles are rolling out to all iOS users and should be showing up in Facebook timelines starting now.

With Instant Articles, publishers are able to host their posts and stories on the Facebook servers, which are able to load linked articles up to 10 times faster than a separate web app. The platform also includes several interactive tools like photo zooming, maps, auto play videos, audio captions, comments, and more, plus it lets publishers access analytics tools to measure article traffic.

According to Facebook, its users are more likely to read and share content that loads instantly, and content that gets a lot of shares is beneficial to publishers as it ranks higher in the Facebook News Feed.

Several major publications have signed up to use Facebook's Instant Article platform, including The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel, Bild, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Business Insider, Fox Sports, MLB, Hollywood Reporter, The Onion, The Verge, TIME, and more.

Instant Articles are highlighted in the iOS Facebook feed with a lightning bolt icon, letting users know which content has the special formatting.

Tag: Facebook

Top Rated Comments

Mrmoneybanks

103 months ago

I don't care about this crap Facebook! FIX THE DAMN BATTERY PROBLEM!

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Mad Mac Maniac

I think this is great. I use the app a lot and there's nothing more frusterating than waiting for an article to load.
*prepares for the anti-facebook crowd*

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Agent OrangeZ

So, Facebook is going to waste my bandwidth and data cap to cache adverts (sorry, 'promoted articles'). Yet another reason to just bookmark Facebook in Safari instead of installing their awful app.

You are right! Facebook has wronged you! I suggest you contact them and DEMAND a refund of whatever you paid them to use the service!

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jpgr15

Other than it adds a significant amount of additional load time to launch a link in Safari and moving back with the app takes additional time and resources as you're switching between apps (also means additional time to reload any lost data in the initial swap). In the end it means a far worse experience for the user.

I'm sorry, I forgot you know my browsing/usage habits better than I do.

My sincerest apologies.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)