Facebook yesterday launched “Instant Articles” in Asia, its latest function that loads news stories quickly without users having to leave Facebook.
Kom Chad Luek was the first Thai media to join the platform, which was initially rolled out in May with media partners such as New York Times and National Geographic.
More than 50 publishers in Asia have signed up to the program including The Straits Times, South China Morning Post and CCTV News.
The function basically allows publishers to store their content on Facebook. An average article takes just eight seconds to load.
“Expanding Instant Articles to Asia is a significant milestone for the product and for each of our early launch partners,” said Andy Mitchell, director of Global Media Partnerships, Facebook.
“Instant Articles has been designed with extensive feedback from publishers, and we’re excited to bring this collaboration to our publishing partners in Asia to help them distribute fast, interactive articles to their readers on the Facebook app.”
Following Kom Chad Luek, eight Thai news agencies have signed onto the program including Daily News, Kapook, Khao Sod, Nation TV, Prachachart, Matichon, Manager Online and Thairath.
An instant article is marked with a lightning bolt on the Facebook news feed to differentiate itself from other links.
Reader Interactions