Android users will now have a chance to read Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s current articles without necessarily having to use their Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhones. The launch of Instant Articles service and which will authorize media firms to broadcast items directly to the social network’s news feeds will involve more than 350 publications worldwide.
Some of these publishers that have signed up for the service and have been sanctioned to either sell or insert advertisements in the articles include New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT), the Guardian, Haaretz, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s NBC News, and Al Jazeera English. Reports have it that the publishers will keep all of the proceeds but at the same time, Facebook will be allowed to sell ads that will call for the sharing of revenue.
The service that was launched in May will also allow for fast-loading articles meaning readers will not have to wait for so long, and the sharing results will be bigger. The articles with a frequent exchange will rank higher on the news feed.
Most of the publishers have admitted that they signed up for the feature on the realization that they were trailing on the views of their articles due to slow loading of sites. They have also lost a lot of income. As such, the publishers do not have an excuse other than to put their best foot forward by building better-off reading practices with things like audio captions and photo galleries.
But how will one be able to know of the presence of an instant article? A lightning bolt icon place in the top right corner will give you the notification.
In other news, Topsy Labs unit that Apple acquired for more than $200 million and which was specifically examining Twitter data and providing insights into current sentiment has shut down. Topsy had a direct access to messaging billions of tweets but as at Tuesday night, the unit came to a halt with the last tweet that read “We’ve searched our last tweet.”
Many people including Former employees of Topsy have expressed their sadness at the closure of the unit with one of the founders Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (@r2g2) tweeting “RIP (rest in peace) Topsy”. However, none of Apple’s spokesman has made any comments on the latest unfoldings.
Sources: reuters, theverge
