Facebook in New Scheme to Host Full Content from News Publishers
In a move aimed at mobile users, social media network Facebook (FB) plans to begin hosting content from third party publishers rather than merely offering links that lead to news and videos in a new initiative called Instant Articles.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook plans to begin hosting material from BuzzFeed, the New York Times, National Geographic and other publishers in the next few weeks, sources cited said. The idea is to speed up user access to content, a process sometimes slowed when mobile users click on publisher-provided links but must wait for material to appear.
The social media network is offering to allow publishers to retain all the revenue from certain ads placed on Facebook-hosted sites in exchange for them placing content rather than links on the sites, the report said. Facebook’s overarching strategy is to become a reliable and trafficked source of respected online content from third-party publishers.
According to the Journal’s report, that some publishers have shown interest in the idea is not surprising considering how much traffic Facebook generates. The report pointed to a Pew Research Center research study that indicated nearly half of the participants read politics and government news first on Facebook, a number equal to how many people accessed similar news from local television.
Still, with some 60 percent of traffic to Internet publishers’ site originating at Facebook, some publishers may be reluctant to lose that traffic by posting content directly on Facebook’s sites, the report said.
The social network’s lure is allow publisher’s out of the traditional revenue-sharing model for ads placed on Facebook-hosted sites.
At this point, nothing is finalized with the principals still working on the mechanics of the deals with BuzzFeed, the New York Times, National Geographic and other publishers, the report said.
