More and more people are accessing the Internet through mobile devices.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), for example, sees nearly 90% of its users access its site
via mobile devices and 44% access Facebook solely through their mobile devices.
That's why Facebook developed Instant Articles, a publishing format that it
hosts on its servers to load content extremely quickly.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) seem to
think that's a pretty smart idea, and Re/Code reports the tech companies are
working on their own version of Instant Articles. There are several key
differences in their methods compared to Facebook's, but the core concept is
the same -- make articles load faster on mobile devices. The feature is
reportedly set for release this fall with limited partners and should provide
Google and Twitter some ammo to keep up with Facebook.
FACEBOOK INTRODUCED INSTANT ARTICLES THIS SPRING. SOURCE: FACEBOOK.
An increasingly mobile user base
Earlier this year, Google announced that more searches come from
smartphones and tablets than laptops and desktops. Smartphones account for more
than half of searches in 10 countries, including the U.S and Japan.
Twitter, meanwhile, has always been a mobile-first product, developed
with standard SMS messaging in mind (hence the 140-character limit). A total of
88% of the company's ad revenue came from mobile during the second quarter.
Both of these companies rely on displaying and linking to other people's
content, so the more efficiently they can do that, the more useful they become.
Facebook, however, has become the top referrer to news sites, according
to analytics company parse.ly. That lead is expected to grow as Facebook makes
efforts to attract more publishers and individual journalists to its platform.
On mobile, Facebook is even more dominant. It takes up about 20% of time
spent on mobile. Instant Articles are specifically designed for mobile and
provide more of a native app feel than the mobile browser built into apps such
as Facebook, Twitter, and Google's Search app. Google and Twitter needed to
respond to Instant Articles in order to maintain their positions with
publishers.
Why publishers might choose Google and Twitter over Facebook
Although Facebook refers tons of traffic to publishers, there's some
pause when it comes to working with Facebook and its Instant Articles.
First of all, Facebook's Instant Articles require publishers to let
Facebook host the content on its servers. That allows Facebook to ensure the
article loads quickly. Google and Twitter's solution uses cached websites to
reduce bandwidth usage. This allows articles to load quickly and for websites
to maintain control over their content.
That distinction is particularly important for Google, which is facing
antitrust allegations that it's directing users to more self-hosted content
than content from other publishers. Twitter, likewise, will soon unveil its
Project Lightning feature, which is designed to showcase top content from
Twitter without linking to outside sources.
Another difference between Google's and Twitter's reported solutions and
Facebook's is that the formers' will be open source. They hope other tech
companies will adopt the solution as well, which would improve its usefulness
across all platforms, including their own. What's more, widespread adoption
could make Facebook's Instant Articles a nuisance for publishers rather than a
feature.
A reactionary product
The fact that Google and Twitter were compelled to create their own
version of Instant Articles is indicative of Facebook's innovation with mobile.
Facebook continues to set the direction of the mobile Internet, and Google and
Twitter simply follow its lead. That innovation coupled with Facebook's sizable
and highly engaged audience make it the front-runner to attract digital ad
spend over Google and Twitter.
Something big just happened
Legendary growth investor and Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner and
Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner just revealed their newest stock picks on Friday,
but you weren’t there for it. And for 12+ years, these two brothers have
tripled the stock market’s return - turning heads on Wall St. in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment