One such functionality is the provided ability for content creators to adapt the format of their blogs and articles to suit mobile versions of their articles. The social networking giant had earlier announced it would open up its Instant Articles feature to all publishers anywhere in the world and irrespective of their size.
Instant Articles aims to create a faster and more engaging reading experience for Facebook users, and it also provides an additional stream of ad revenue via Facebook’s electronic publishing feature. The plugin launch was announced by the WordPress VIP team as well as Facebook’s media relations team, but don’t let the “WordPress VIP” phrase scare you: the tool is supported on all instances of self-hosted WordPress platforms as well as the VIP product. AMP is Google’s brand of instant content – an open source plug-in created to speed up the mobile web and optimize webpage formatting. Emily Bell, the director of Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, recently wrote that news websites are becoming increasingly obsolete as distributed content – content published on platforms not owned by news organizations – become more and more prevalent.
Automattic is planning to release the plugin as a free option for all WordPress users in time for the broader launch of Instant Articles in April.
A WordPress plugin was introduced on the platform in an attempt to reach the millions of publishers already connected on Facebook.
However, the plugin isn’t available yet on WordPress, but you can get it on Github.
Apple, whose content and social initiatives take a backseat to their software and hardware, jumped into the mix when they replaced Newsstand with News.
Until now, Instant Articles so far only allow users to engage with major brands like NBC, BuzzFeed and MTV.
“We encourage all interested publishers on WordPress to review the plugin’s documentation and FAQs“, the post said. By publishing their stories on Facebook, news organizations are ceding some authority over the distribution of their work.
