Read original story on: Wall Street Journal
In order to attract and retain more users, Facebook has been quite ambitious in terms of building its social network into a content platform. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 48% of respondents said they recently read news about politics and government on Facebook. So it came as little surprise when Facebook announce a new initiative, dubbed Instant Articles, earlier today to increase its appeal to digital publishers.
As part of the content initiative, Facebook is offering to let publishers keep all the revenue from certain ads, which is clearly aimed to lure them into distributing content through its social network. Although concerns over access to reader data and user experience control have already been voiced, Facebook is reportedly finalizing the details with its launch partners, which includes BuzzFeed, The New York Times, National Geographic and other major publishers.