Publishers Warily Embed With Facebook

Online publishers have come to rely on Facebook as a source of traffic, and are vulnerable to changes that affect what appears in users’ news feeds. Anxiety over Facebook’s intentions in news publishing has risen in recent weeks ahead of the expected announcement of an initiative called Instant Articles, through which Facebook will publish content from major outlets like the New York Times, National Geographic and BuzzFeed rather than linking back to their sites. Many publishers are cautiously awaiting details of the plan, hoping that Facebook can help them better tap into the fast-growing mobile advertising market. While many news sites are struggling to make money off a growing mobile audience, Facebook is proving an ace at selling mobile ads.