May 25, 2017

Facebook allows publishers to convert Instant Articles for other formats

Facebook announced Thursday it's making it possible for publishers to convert Instant Articles to Google AMP and Apple News formats, paving the way for consolidation among newsrooms in their digital distribution efforts. (There's currently no standard across these platforms.) Publishers can soon use an extension to Facebook's open source software kit that's used to build Instant Articles called SDK to be able to build content in publishable formats for Google's mobile news distribution platform, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), and Apple News.

Why it matters: Facebook is trying to provide publishers a way to easily reuse their content on from Instant Articles on other platforms. Some publishers have reported that Apple News and Google AMP are driving great results and more publisher-friendly partnerships. The move comes amid increased publisher backlash over the effectiveness and revenue potential of Facebook Instant Articles.

This article has been updated to include clarification about the program from Facebook.

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