With Facebook Instant Articles publishers have the option to display media content directly on Facebook. Even high-resolution videos, images and graphics can be embedded seamlessly. The display directly on Facebook has the advantage that readers don't have to be redirected on the own site, which often takes a lot of time. With long waiting times the attention of the potential readers decreases vastly. The shortened loading times result in more people actually reading the content, especially people who surf on mobile devices.
The user stays on Facebook and doesn't access the site of the publisher. At first glance that seems to be a bad solution. On second thought it becomes clear that Instant Articles provide great chances. The publishers get an opportunity to reach new target groups with little effort. Furthermore they have the option to design the articles attractively what makes catches the attention of even more people.
Technologically Facebook Instant Articles base on a simple HTML5 format with a slightly different structure. The content has to be formatted as "Instant Article markup". That can happen manually or with a special WordPress plugin. The publishers have the option to place advertisements around their articles. 100% of the profit goes to the publishers themselves. Facebook charges a fee of 30% only when their own advertisement network is used.
Many publishers already use Instant Articles - among those are New York Times, National Geographic and Spiegel Online.
In conclusion, Facebook Instant Articles offers more chances than risks for publishers. With this innovation Facebook eliminates barriers for the users of mobile devices and thus has become a lot more interesting for the distribution of media.