Facebook launches Instant Articles for faster loading

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — Facebook launched itsInstant Articles initiative today for reading news stories, videos and photos that load quicker on the iPhone platform.

Chris Cox, the chief product officer for Facebook, made the announcement at the Wall Street JournalWSJ.D Live conference, adding that Instant Articles are being tested on Androidphones as well.

Facebook is working with news organizations including Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, Vox, NBC News, Washington Post, Slate, New York Times and others, to give their articles preferential treatment in the Facebook News Feed for faster loading.

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The company says articles—including video and photos—will load in the News Feed 10 times faster than previously.

“We built Instant Articles because performance on smartphones is the most important feature,” Cox said. “If we can lower the friction, it’s a huge service to both the body that’s writing the article and the user on Facebook.”

Facebook has been giving video publishers who upload video directly to Facebook preferential treatment by promoting them to a wider group of the News Feed and faster loads. In its pitch to publishers to join Instant Articles, Facebook tells them they can either keep the ad revenue, or have Facebook sell them for a revenue split.