Facebook launches Instant Articles for Android users in India

Facebook has announced that it has launched Instant Articles in India, and they will be available to Android users for the first time ever. The online social networking site had earlier launched the service in the US and Europe. However, in those regions it was restricted only to iPhone users.
Starting today, Android smartphone users in India will be able to browse feature-rich content from five local publishers through the Instant Articles feature on their Facebook app, the company said.

Instant Articles publishers make dedicated, feature-rich content, which is hosted by Facebook, and which loads within the app itself. Content loads faster because users do not have to leave the app by clicking on links. To distinguish from normal stories shared on the News Feed, Instant Articles feature a lightning bolt on the top-right corner.

Facebook started rolling out Instant Articles earlier this year, and said that it will enable users to read their stories up to 10 times faster. The company’s publishing partners will put up interactive news stories with images, auto-play videos, interactive maps, and audio captions among others.
In US and Europe, Facebook had roped in publications like The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild. For India, Facebook has partnered The Indian Express, India Today, The Quint, Aaj Tak and the Hindustan Times for Instant Articles in India.

India has more than 130 million active Facebook users and more than 90 percent of them access the social network via their mobile phone