Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles
First, all AMP pages require a base JavaScript file that sets up a lot of the framework, lazy loading, and so forth.
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AMP is designed to run only on smartphones — the “M” stands for “mobile”, after all — and its creators recommend serving different pages to desktop users. Why shouldn’t everyone benefit from a faster web?
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Most of all, what problems does AMP solve that could not be fixed through the careful optimization of resources?
The WordPress team has followed the project and worked on its own implementation of AMP. Starting today, any website on WordPress.com now automatically supports AMP. There’s nothing to do. Self-hosted WordPress websites can also enable AMP by installing a plugin.
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WordPress adding AMP support is a big deal as 25 percent of the web runs on WordPress. The AMP project is off to a good start with WordPress’s backing. All WordPress sites are now potentially AMP-enabled.
I’m still skeptical about this whole AMP thing. But if I can add support to my site, with little effort, and improve the experience for my readers, I don’t see why I wouldn’t.
You won’t be able to publish Instant Articles until your RSS feed has been approved.
That’s just what we need: the worst part of the App Store approval process applied to the web. No thanks.
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I hate to say it but neither Instant Articles nor AMP are really good enough. I think we need a third standard for super-fast web pages.
In a month or two we’ll be able to give him a writing tool that gives us both what we want, because of the changes Facebook is about to make.
I want him to get exposure so his ideas can grow. But I also want people who read my blog to see it. Right now they don’t want to click on FB links.
It’s built on RSS, an open format. The RSS can be used for other purposes, such as posting to LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium or any new service that might come along. So Facebook doesn’t have an exclusive on this flow.
Summary: Facebook is using open web technology to power Instant Articles. I’m not sharing anything that isn’t already publicly documented on the Facebook developer site. People have trouble understanding this, I assume, because it seems so out of character for a big web destination like Facebook to care about the open web. It’s kind of a miracle. But there it is. The open web is about to get a real shot in the arm from a most unexpected place.
Previously: Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages, Facebook Instant Articles.
Update (2016-02-26): Kirk McElhearn:
FYI, I installed the WordPress AMP plugin, and Google tells me there are errors on more than half of my pages. Sigh.
