Instant change

A new Facebook initiative will transform news media

The "Instant Articles" initiative from social networking giant Facebook (FB) could reshape the relationship between social media readers, news providers and advertisers. FB proposes to host content from media partners on its own servers and offer that content directly within its newsfeed on mobile apps. Instant Articles are currently available only on Facebook's app on the iPhone. However, it will soon be rolled out for other smartphones. Nine media partners have signed on, including The New York Times, BuzzFeed, National Geographic, NBC News, The Atlantic Monthly, BBC News, The Guardian, and German majors Bild and Der Spiegel. Media partners can sell embedded ads, keeping all revenue. Or FB can sell ads, with the media partner receiving 70 per cent of ad revenue, while FB takes 30 per cent. In addition, media partners will have access to data collected by FB and they may also use independent data-mining tools on their content pages.

This is win-win at first glance. Facebook has 1.4 billion users and drives huge traffic to news providers. By hosting directly, FB offers a faster, high-quality content experience, adding interactive maps, zoomable high-res pictures, video, etc. FB claims it can load content from its own servers 10 times quicker than external links. Apart from ad revenue, FB retains users within the ecosystem of its own app. The partnership may alter the balance of power between social media and news providers. Social media already drives a large chunk of news traffic, via links shared by users. As Instant Articles rolls out, other social media players will surely launch similar initiatives, building a broader, deeper relationship between news providers and social media. But social media is also likely to gain leverage versus mainstream media. Also in many regions, including India, more than half of online traffic already comes from mobile.

The dependencies could become unhealthy. Social media has a tendency to create customised filter bubbles where users only access news and views that reinforces their preferences and prejudices. Facebook's newsfeed, for example, is curated by a proprietary algorithm, which chooses what to display to every specific user and, just as importantly, what to filter out. That algorithm is the arbiter of taste and it is tweaked at FB's discretion. The gaming company, Zynga, for instance, was hit hard when FB changed its algorithm and reduced Zynga's visibility. Ad revenues, content and, more broadly, the reader-content provider relationship is shaped by that algorithm and it gives FB enormous leverage vis-à-vis its media partners. Discretion can easily become discrimination since such an algorithm can direct eyeballs where it chooses. Media partners will have to beware of over-dependency on social media revenues, or find ways to develop counter-leverages. Also, as Instant Articles and similar initiatives catch on, the paywalled access model will become outmoded. Facebook is free, like most social media platforms. If content is widely available for free, can subscription models survive?

In some ways, Instant Articles formalises existing symbiotic relationships. People find news via social media. They consume news on mobile devices. Content must be unbundled and reconfigured for delivery on smaller screens and via app rather than browser. Facebook has the apps, the scale and the competencies to become a hub for news delivery of this nature. As of now, the interests of the social network and its media partners are broadly aligned. But these relationships would be fluid and dynamic, and susceptible to unpredictable reworking. Whatever happens, Instant Articles will be a game changer for both mainstream and social media.