Over the weekend nine massively popular media firms to include the likes of New York Times and National Geographic began offering their content directly into FB using the “Instant Article” program. Previously when a Facebook user would click on a article by Nat Geo on Facebook the article would open on another page (i.e. the National Geographic page that contains the article… THIS is no longer the case. Now when a FB user clicks on the Nat Geo article they will be reading the article via the Facebook page and the clicker will not be redirected to the National Geographic website.
This is a huge PLUS for Facebook as it keeps users on their page which ultimately results in more advertising dollars. Some in the media industry are VERY concerned over what this may do to the future of media down the road.
““Some of the news outlets are treading lightly, calling it an ‘experiment’ (the word chosen by the Times) and a ‘test” (The Guardian),” – Brian Stelter CNN
Others in the industry still conclude that ultimately the media firms are the ones creating the content therefore legacy media will also be protected. BUT what would happen if Facebook decided to become a media firm and start producing their own news content? The shape of content media is ever evolving and it is a safe bet to state no one knows for sure where it will land.