Facebook Closes Media Online Sources, Users Are More Interested In Watching Reels

Illustration of the Facebook logo (Roman Martyniuk / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Meta will reportedly end support for Instant Articles on Facebook in mid-April next year due to a lack of interest from users.

It is known, Instant Articles launched to Facebook in 2015 which helped news articles from which sources were quickly published on mobile devices.

However, this feature is not used by users.

"Currently less than 3 percent of what people around the world see on Facebook Feeds is posts with links to news articles," a Meta spokesperson said.

"And as we said earlier this year, as a business, it doesn't make sense to overinvest in areas that don't align with user preferences," he added.

With the closure of Instant Articles, news publishers were given six months to re-adjust their Facebook strategy.

After the closure, when users tap the link to news articles on Facebook's mobile app, they will be taken to the publisher's own website.

Meta noted, since starting Instant Articles, the mobile web experience has increased widely due to faster internet speeds and stronger devices.

Akibat peningkatan itu, membuat Instant Articles tidak diperlukan bagi banyak orang yang mengakses cerita berbasis text.

Meta added, they see users spending more time watching videos, especially short ones like Reels, and users prefer to see a little bit of news and political content on Facebook.

Quoted from Engadget, Sunday, October 16, Meta is said to have reduced its investment in news content, such as ending payments to publishers to include their articles on the News tab.

The move was reinforced by the company announcing it would close the newsletter platform in early 2023.