Washington - Facebook moved deeper into the media business Wednesday by crafting a deal with news publishers which allows the social network to deliver articles directly to readers.
The long-anticipated move by Facebook means it will host news items on its servers to give readers faster access.
The plan has been hotly debated in the news industry -- by those who argue it can help struggling media groups, and others who say news organizations will lose control of their content to the social network.
The new feature called Instant Articles "makes the reading experience as much as ten times faster than standard mobile web articles," Facebook said in a blog post on its website.
Sharing articles on Facebook's mobile app is growing but the average article takes about eight second to load, according to Facebook.
The nine partners in the launch are The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild, Facebook said.
Facebook said publishers will be able to sell advertisements in the articles and keep the revenue or use Facebook's ad network. Publishers will also be able to track traffic and other data of their content hosted by the social network.
Instant Articles will initially be available on the Facebook app for iPhone, but Facebook is working to expand the platform.
"As a lover of journalism, storytelling and mobile, I have high hopes for the positive impact Instant Articles will have on how we read, and share, the news," Facebook's news partnerships manager Liz Heron said of the plan.
AFP
