Is your Facebook newsfeed looking a little different today? A little more cluttered and text-heavy? Welcome to the new era of social media, where you won't be able to escape your second cousin posting lifestyle features about kale – not even if you try.
Starting from Wednesday, big media organisations will start publishing their content directly on Facebook's mobile app as part of a scheme called Instant Articles. As you scroll down your newsfeed, you'll be able to read articles directly within the app. It also includes a range of nifty (read: initially impressive but eventually very annoying) features such as GIFs, interactive maps, autoplay videos and commenting functions.
So far, nine news companies have signed up, including the Guardian, BBC News, NBC News, the New York Times and BuzzFeed. National Geographic's first Instant Article, to be published today, is on bees. You know how your newsfeed was taken over by ex-best friend's updates on the Kim Kardashian app? This is like that, but with less bodycon dresses and more bees.
Facebook claims that this great leap forward in publishing will help cut out that annoying lag when you click on a link to an article and wait for it to load on your phone. But really, this is about making sure people stay on their platform for as long as possible – allowing them to serve you ads and collect more data on you in the process.
Hey, we hear Ello is looking nice this time of the year?
