All,
Today, marks the beginning of a very innovative effort as we bring the rich storytelling of NBC News to Facebook with the debut of their “Instant Articles” platform.
As many of you know, Facebook has come to us because of our expansive reach and commitment to world-class storytelling across all platforms and devices. We are committed to innovation and we continue to see impressive gains on Facebook –our traffic has tripled year over year and we reached 97 million native Facebook video views in April alone.
As we have worked with Facebook, we see a tremendous amount of value in being a first mover within the social graph that is connecting the world. Under this partnership, feature articles from NBC News will now be showcased on Facebook, allowing iPhone app users to experience our stories within a new, robust presentation. It’s a win-win to serve our growing Facebook audience faster, while expanding our reach and advertising possibilities.
Today, we’ve rolled out a report called “The Trouble with Almonds” which demonstrates the benefits of Facebook’s new platform. Within the “Instant Articles” experience, correspondent bylines will now be linked to their public Facebook accounts, allowing our journalists to directly connect with their audience through Q&A’s in the comment section. We can also deconstruct stories with playful media elements including more original videos, tilt-to-view panoramic photos and enhanced audio slideshows, providing our users with a more immersive experience.
To see “Instant Articles” in action, I encourage you to visit the NBC News page in the iPhone Facebook app. Compare it to the story on a webpage: http://nbcnews.to/1IzTrL5.
NBC News is proud to join such a great group of launch partners for this project. Thank you to everyone who helped make today possible.
Best wishes
Julian
Julian March
NBC News | SVP Editorial & Innovation
