One of the problems publishers face today to make their content more readable on mobile devices is that there are multiple formats available for this purpose. Facebook has instant articles, Google is leading the AMP (mobile accelerated pages) project and Apple’s news format optimizes the content of iOS devices.
Facebook is today taking a crack at a solution to this problem by deploying support for both AMP and soon to be Apple News as part of its open source software development system Instant Articles.
Use of Extension in Updated SDK:
The updated SDK will now include an extension that allows publishers to create content that can be published in all three formats, starting with support for Google’s AMP in addition to instant Facebook articles. In the coming weeks will also include support for publishing to Apple News, although the company did not provide an exact release date for when that feature would be added.
At a high level, the SDK will take the markup that is used to create instant Facebook articles and use it to create the code that is needed to build for AMP and Apple News. While multiple systems are not identical, obviously Facebook says it will offer ways for publishers to apply custom style templates for competing services, including applying things like fonts, colors, and custom captions, which will be reflected as in the other formats.
The goal with this change is to offer a design once, to publish anywhere the experience and, naturally, is one where publishing on Facebook is the first priority, in terms of doing things well. The functionality will be available through an extension to the Facebook Instant Articles SDK, which is located here at GitHub. (The documentation on its use can be found on the Facebook site for developers, here.) The idea of the extension came as part of the Facebook Journalism Project, a program that aims to connect Facebook with media publishers to help inform the company’s roadmap for upcoming news on its site.
Most Tools Inside Facebook SDK Extension:
The other ideas of the project include things like letting publishers offer free trials to their paid subscriptions through Facebook, hackathons with publisher development teams, summary packages to which Facebook users can subscribe, PSA to promote literacy news on Facebook, tutorials for journalists and more. However, the release of the extension also comes at a time when a number of high-profile publishers have begun to abandon the Facebook format, due to their lack of monetization options.
In April, for example, it was reported that Forbes, Hearst, The New York Times and others have withdrawn from instant articles. Other major media organizations like Bloomberg, The WSJ, ESPN, CBS News, NPR, and Financial Times and VICE News have also been holdouts, running little or no content in the Facebook format.
Others who have used the format have been liquidating their support; Last month, The Guardian withdrew from instant Facebook and Apple News articles. Publishers are generally unhappy with the agreements that platforms are cutting back on revenue sharing, and they do not like the instant article format prevents them from having a more direct relationship with their readers.
Importance of sending mobile-optimized Pages:
Sending mobile-optimized pages can be a good experience for readers who do not have to deal with pop-ups and other clutter, but historically it has meant that publishers cannot publish the same Web ads, or encourage donations, push subscriptions paid, promote your newsletters or e-mail events, or make other connections with readers. Facebook has tried to curb some of these concerns by adjusting the rules of instant articles, allowing them to show more ads, for example, or deploying new features such as call-to-action units in articles that can promote email notification electronic, Ups or Likes page request. It allows publishers to submit free trials and application downloads, among other things.
Now, linking instant Facebook articles to AMP and Apple News, the company hopes it can bring publishers back to its platform making it possible to publish the three major services at once. But without completely loosening its restrictions, Facebook may still have a hard time making the case for instant articles if the format does not match the publisher’s larger goals.
Read the Facebook Instant Articles Monetization Documentation for reference.
Procedure for Monetizing Articles Easily:
The procedure for monetizing the articles is a bit long but if you do step by step sure that is done well the first attempt, here we show a series of steps to monetize instant Facebook articles.
Step No 1: Create a Facebook page. If you do not know how to do it follow the instructions to do it, you can find it on Google. Then go to https://www.facebook.com/instant_articles/signup.
Step no 2: There select the page that you are going to monetize, accept the conditions of Instant Articles by checking the box below and click on the green box that says “Access to the tools of instant articles”, and you will have a new window, press there Continue. Pressing Continue will take you to the next page. You must select the Authorize your site option and take you to the next screen.
Step No 3: Go back to the Facebook screen and enter the name of your website and then press Reclaimed URL, on that same screen, go up and find where Step 1 says and select Style Editor. The screen will move to the Styles section, there Press Default and When the screen is opened press where it says Upload logo. Upload the logo. Remember that the size of your logo must have a minimum of 690 x 132 pixels and transparent PNG.
Step No 4: Then press Save. When saving, the following screen appears: close it, to return to the previous screen and then press Cancel. Now go back and look for Create articles and press CMS plugin, download the plugin and install it on your website, remember to activate it once installed.
Step No 5: After being installed the plugin goes back to Facebook and searches in the RSS Feed Tool section of the production place the address of your web followed by / feed/instant – articles, press save and then accept.
Step No 6: Scroll to Step 2 and press Submit Revision Request. This is done for Facebook to review the content of our website and decide if it meets the conditions to be published.
Step No 7: Go up to Step 1 and tap where Facebook Audience Network says. The screen will bring you to the Audience Network section where you have to check the box and press Start, and then a menu appears where you will select Payment information. This will take you to your Facebook applications where you are going to select the one you are monetizing.
Step No 8: When you go in, go to the Alerts – Inbox section and press where Audience Network Application says, then in the window that opens to one side you press where says Payment Information. And on the screen that opens, you will upload all the information from your PayPal account or your bank account where you want to be paid the money you earn through Facebook.
Step no 9: Then go to the Configuration> Basic section and click where it says Add platform, select the platform, type the web address and press Save Changes. When you return to the previous screen, enter the same address in the Application Domain as you placed in Add Platform and Save Changes. After saving the changes copy the Application ID and go to your website, look in the Instant Article plugin section App ID there paste the copied number and the secret key of the application.
Step No 10: Then press Login with Facebook. The page will be moved to Facebook to accept the permissions of the application. Now go back to the application developer and go to Audience Network – Locations.
Step No 11: Go back to the plugin on your website and look for the Audience Network Placement ID section and paste the number copied in the previous step. With this the Monetization of your Instant Items would already be ready; you just have to wait for your website to be approved to start making Money through Facebook.
Related Article : How To Setup Facebook Instant Articles
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