We’re well past the era of solemnly declaring that this will be the year of mobile. With IoT, AI, VR, AR, and machine learning now firmly embedded in everyday life, framing the conversation around mobile alone feels a bit like showing up to a five-course dinner and only talking about the bread. That said — when it comes to digital publishing specifically — mobile still matters more than almost anything else. Publishers who aren’t following, testing, and actually using the new mobile-first content platforms that Facebook, Google, and Apple have been building are, I’d argue, already losing ground to competitors who are. It’s only a matter of time before that gap becomes impossible to close.
So. What platforms are we actually talking about?
The platforms at the centre of this piece are the new content delivery systems developed by Facebook, Google, and Apple — built ostensibly to improve user experience and expand publisher reach, and also, let’s be honest, to keep users firmly within their own ecosystems. We’re talking about Instant Articles, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), Google Play Newsstand, Apple News, and various RSS services.
Instant Articles
Facebook first announced Instant Articles in May 2015 and spent the following months testing it with a limited group of publishers. At the F8 conference yesterday, as promised, it opened up to everyone.
So what is it? Instant Articles is essentially a content delivery system that lets publishers serve their articles directly within the Facebook app — faster, lighter, and without the user ever opening a browser tab. The bloated interfaces, slow-loading ad stacks, and general friction of the mobile web? Set aside. What’s left is a clean, quick reading experience that the early test results suggest users actually prefer:
- Instant Articles content is read 20% more than standard links
- Pages load 10x faster than a normal mobile web page
- Users abandon content 70% less often
- Articles are shared 30% more
Good numbers across the board. Users get a better reading experience, publishers get better reach and engagement, and Facebook — well, Facebook gets to keep users inside Facebook. “Look, everything you need is right here, no need to leave” is essentially what this system is saying on Facebook’s behalf. Which is fine, as long as publishers go in with eyes open.
If you’re a regular user, you don’t need to do anything — Instant Articles works in the background between Facebook and the publisher. If you’re a publisher, here’s the process:
- Register at instantarticles.fb.com
- Make the required technical adjustments to your site so your content is Instant Articles-compatible
- Submit at least 10 compatible articles for Facebook’s review and approval
Once approved, you’re up and running.
For publishers who’d rather not wade through technical documentation, Facebook has partnered with a solid list of platforms to make integration easier. CMS support includes WordPress and Drupal, among others. Analytics and measurement integrations cover Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, comScore, Chartbeat, SimpleReach, and Parse.ly. WordPress users, in particular, can handle most of the setup through a dedicated Instant Articles plugin without getting too deep into the weeds.
It’s also worth noting that publishers can integrate their existing ad setups into Instant Articles content.
More info: instantarticles.fb.com
AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
Google’s open-source AMP project operates on a similar principle to Instant Articles. First announced in October 2015 and still actively in development, AMP is designed to make static content in search results load faster and deliver a better reading experience on mobile.
AMP-compatible pages get their own dedicated placement at the top of mobile search results, and when users tap through, they’re served a stripped-back, lightning-fast version of the content rather than the full site interface:
The performance figures are notable:
- AMP pages load 4x faster than standard pages
- They use 10x less data
Users can also swipe between AMP results horizontally, which makes browsing feel considerably more fluid. Publishers can integrate ads and other services much as they can with Instant Articles.
More info: ampproject.org | GitHub
Google Play Newsstand
Most Android users — and quite a few iOS users — will already be familiar with Google Play Newsstand, Google’s mobile news aggregation service. At its most basic, it pulls together news sources and digital magazines into a single reading app. But calling it a glorified RSS reader undersells it — it’s considerably more customisable and feature-rich than that.
Publishers who want to be featured can register through the Newsstand Producer page and manage their own publications directly. The platform supports standard RSS feeds alongside more tailored options: category and content management, media integration, interface personalisation, and more.
Newsstand accepts both free and paid publications and supports ad integration within content. Google Analytics integration is also available for tracking engagement.
More info: support.google.com/producer/answer/2723365
Apple News
Apple News — originally launched as Newsstand before being rebranded — covers similar ground to Google Play Newsstand, but within Apple’s ecosystem. Updated with iOS 9.3, it offers a personalised reading experience for users and a meaningful distribution channel for publishers.
Publishers can register through the News Publisher page. After meeting Apple’s technical requirements and receiving approval, content can be published through three routes: creating articles directly within News Publisher, connecting a website via a plugin, or linking an RSS feed.
More info: apple.com/news
RSS Services
Services like Feedly and Pocket remain genuinely useful — both for readers who want a single place to follow multiple sources, and for publishers looking for additional distribution channels. That said, RSS services come with some real limitations worth being aware of.
Some don’t support ad integration. Some strip out rich media. These restrictions vary between free and paid tiers.
There’s also the perpetual tension around truncated RSS feeds — the ones that cut off halfway through an article with a “Read the full piece on our site” link at the end. Publishers do this for two understandable reasons: most RSS services don’t allow ad integration, and open full-text feeds are an easy target for content scraping. Fair enough. But from the reader’s perspective, the argument is equally reasonable: “If I wanted to read it on your website, I wouldn’t be using an RSS reader!” The sensible approach for publishers is a balanced RSS strategy — enough content to be genuinely useful, enough restraint to protect their interests. That said, as a publisher myself, I’ll be upfront: I’m not a fan of heavy RSS restrictions. They feel like the wrong trade-off.
Some Questions Worth Sitting With
Let’s close with a few:
- Facebook has over 1.5 billion monthly active users. For publishers trying to grow their reach, is a service like Instant Articles not an extraordinary opportunity?
- Facebook has a News Feed algorithm that decides what people see. Does anyone seriously think Instant Articles content won’t get preferential treatment within it?
- Google’s algorithm already gives mobile-friendly sites a ranking boost. Is it a stretch to think AMP-compatible content might get the same treatment?
- Mobile, mobile, mobile. Users on mobile will give a page roughly three seconds before they leave. With that in mind, how sensible is it to ignore content platforms specifically designed to solve that problem?
- Can publishers who haven’t adapted their content to these platforms genuinely claim to be user-focused?
So — what are we waiting for? The ingredients are all there. Let’s get on with it.