This has been a long time coming - in Internet time, at least.
Last March Facebook announced it would start hosting publishers' content within its mobile app. Such a move was proposed as a win-win. Faced with plummeting web-traffic, these 'Instant Articles' would allow publishers to bring their content to larger audiences in a faster, streamlined way. Ads could additionally live within the articles to compensate for the potential loss of revenue from even lower site traffic for publishers.
Unsurprisingly upon this announcement, people began to ask if this siphoning of traffic would negatively impact publishers and businesses.
Digital marketing has traditionally been predicated upon driving traffic into a publishers' content ecosystem, i.e. their website. From there the publisher could convert this traffic to leads and subscribers, or sales, or revenue, or all of the above.
But the notion of Instant articles challenged this structure, and as of today Instant Articles are a reality. This means in the coming months publishers are going to be forced to ask the question: are the advantages enough to force a paradigm shift?
Certainly there's an audience on Facebook that can't be found anywhere else online and content can be serviced up to interested crowds on the channel based on its algorithm, but more eyeballs does not necessarily drive business objectives like conversions and revenue (Facebook does offer publishers the chance to collect e-mails within articles though).
Further, publishers will lose some control over design and direct customer access to more content if they join the Facebook mobile movement. There's also the threat that Facebook gets publishers in the door and then changes terms on them (pay to play, anyone?).
But, mobile is undeniably forcing changes , changes that require a rethink of the 'destination-centric' model of websites to a 'distribution-centric' one, and here's where Facebook holds the power, along with Google and Apple, because a destination model is based on desktop use patterns.
Facebook's giving publishers a chance to modernize along with the channel with most of the features publishers desire, but not the most important one: control.
Let's also not forget the other features Facebook's adding to keep mobile users in-app that make the proposition a bit more enticing.
Does this mean publishers should abandon ship on their websites? Well, no. They'll still need a website as a content hub and search is still vital. Facebook doesn't own the Internet quite yet (although the signs are growing).
However to not be left behind, publishers do need to start thinking now about how to adapt. They need to understand what their audience wants, where they want to be engaged, and how to meet them there, all of which Facebook and mobile are going to play a big part in, not to mention the other groups getting involved.
Either way, the changes are coming fast and furious , and the ride is only going to get bumpier. Buckle up.